Lactuca floridana

Last updated

Woodland lettuce
Lactuca floridana - Woodland Lettuce.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Lactuca
Species:
L. floridana
Binomial name
Lactuca floridana
(L.) Gaertn. 1791
Synonyms [2]
Synonymy
  • Sonchus floridanusL. 1753
  • Galathenium floridanum(L.) Nutt.
  • Mulgedium floridanum(L.) DC.
  • Cicerbita acuminata(Willd.) Wallr.
  • Cicerbita borealis Wallr.
  • Cicerbita floridana(L.) Wallr.
  • Cicerbita villosa(Jacq.) Beauverd
  • Lactuca acuminata(Willd.) A.Gray
  • Lactuca villosaJacq.
  • Mulgedium acuminatum(Willd.) DC.
  • Mulgedium lyratumCass.
  • Mulgedium villosum(Jacq.) Small
  • Sonchus acuminatusWilld.
  • Sonchus lapponicusFroel.
  • Wiestia acuminataSch.Bip.
  • Wiestia floridana(L.) Sch.Bip.

Lactuca floridana, commonly known as woodland lettuce, [3] Florida lettuce, [4] or false lettuce [5] is a North American species of wild lettuce. It is native across much of central Canada and the eastern and central United States.

Contents

Lactuca floridana is an annual or biennial plant in the Cichorieae (dandelion) tribe within the Asteraceae (daisy) family. Lactuca floridana was found to contain 11β,13-Dihydro-lactucin-8-O-acetate hemihydrate. [6]

Description

L. floridana is a tall plant, growing to a height of 0.9–2.4 m (3–8 ft). It is usually unbranched with a central stem that is light or reddish green and hairless. [7] It has a pure white, milky sap. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate-oblong, and up to 25 cm (10 in) long and 8 cm (3 in) across. The largest leaves are often deeply pinnately lobed, although the leaves in general are variable and can be lobed or unlobed. [4]

The top of the stem bears a multibranched inflorescence with many flower heads. Each head contains 10–20 blue or white ray florets but no disc florets. The fruit is a brown achene. [8]

Flowers on woodland lettuce Woodland Lettuce.jpg
Flowers on woodland lettuce

Etymology

The genus name Lactuca is based on the Latin word for milk, "lac", and refers to the milky sap. The specific epithet means "of Florida". [9]

Distribution and habitat

L. floridana is native in the United States from Texas to the west, Florida to the south, Massachusetts to the east, and the Canadian border to the north. In Canada it is native in Manitoba and Ontario, although it is possibly extirpated in Manitoba and it's critically imperiled in Ontario. [10] Habitats include disturbed areas, prairies, along roadsides, pastures, and miscellaneous waste areas. [7]

Ecology

The plant blooms from July to October, and the nectar and pollen of the flowers attract bees. [7]

Uses

The plant is edible and can be cooked and eaten as greens. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Lactuca</i> Genus of lettuces

Lactuca, commonly known as lettuce, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus includes at least 50 species, distributed worldwide, but mainly in temperate Eurasia.

Lactucarium is the milky fluid secreted by several species of lettuce, especially Lactuca virosa, usually from the base of the stems. It is known as lettuce opium because of its sedative and analgesic properties. It has also been reported to promote a mild sensation of euphoria. Because it is a latex, lactucarium physically resembles opium, in that it is excreted as a white fluid and can be reduced to a thick smokable solid.

<i>Lactuca serriola</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Lactuca serriola, also called prickly lettuce, milk thistle, compass plant, and scarole, is an annual or biennial plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It has a slightly fetid odor and is commonly considered a weed of orchards, roadsides and field crops. It is the closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce.

<i>Thalictrum thalictroides</i> Species of flowering plant

Thalictrum thalictroides, the rue-anemone, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to woodland in eastern North America. It has white or pink flowers surrounded by a whorl of leaflets, and it blooms in spring.

<i>Eurybia macrophylla</i> Species of flowering plant

Eurybia macrophylla, commonly known as the bigleaf aster, large-leaved aster, largeleaf aster or bigleaf wood aster, is an herbaceous perennial in the family Asteraceae that was formerly treated in the genus Aster. It is native to eastern North America, with a range extending from eastern and central Canada through the northeastern deciduous and mixed forests of New England and the Great Lakes region and south along the Appalachians as far as the northeastern corner of Georgia, and west as far as Minnesota, Missouri and Arkansas. The flowers appear in the late summer to early fall and show ray florets that are usually either a deep lavender or violet, but sometimes white, and disc florets that are cream-coloured or light yellow, becoming purple as they mature. It is one of the parent species of the hybrid Eurybia × herveyi.

<i>Rudbeckia triloba</i> Species of flowering plant

Rudbeckia triloba, the browneyed or brown-eyed susan, thin-leaved coneflower or three-leaved coneflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae with numerous, yellow, daisy-like flowers. It is native to the central and eastern United States and is often seen in old fields or along roadsides. It is also cultivated as an ornamental.

<i>Acalypha rhomboidea</i> Species of flowering plant

Acalypha rhomboidea is a plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae.

<i>Eupatorium altissimum</i> Species of flowering plant

Eupatorium altissimum, with the common names tall thoroughwort and tall boneset, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae family with a native range including much of the eastern and central United States and Canada. It is a tall plant found in open woods, prairies, fields, and waste areas, with white flowers that bloom in the late summer and fall.

Lactuca biennis is a North American species of wild lettuce known by the common names tall blue lettuce and blue wood lettuce. It is widespread across much of the United States and Canada from Alaska and Yukon south as far as California, New Mexico, and Georgia.

<i>Lactuca canadensis</i> Species of lettuce

Lactuca canadensis is a species of wild lettuce known by the common names Canada lettuce, Canada wild lettuce, and tall lettuce. Its true native range is not clear, but it is considered to be a native of the eastern and central parts of North America. It naturalized in the western part of the continent as well as in Eurasia.

<i>Lactuca muralis</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Lactuca muralis, the wall lettuce, is a perennial flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae, also referred to as Mycelis muralis.

<i>Agoseris glauca</i> Species of flowering plant

Agoseris glauca is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names false dandelion, pale agoseris, prairie agoseris, and short-beaked agoseris. It is native to western North America.

<i>Triodanis perfoliata</i> Species of flowering plant

Triodanis perfoliata, the clasping Venus' looking-glass or clasping bellflower, is an annual flowering plant belonging to the family Campanulaceae. It is an annual herb native to North and South America, the natural range extending from Canada to Argentina. It is also naturalized in China, Korea and Australia.

<i>Enemion biternatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Enemion biternatum, commonly known as the false rue-anemone, is a spring ephemeral native to moist deciduous woodland in the eastern United States and extreme southern Ontario.

<i>Asclepias quadrifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias quadrifolia, commonly called four-leaved milkweed or fourleaf milkweed, is a species of milkweed in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) family. It is sometimes referred to as whorled milkweed, but it should not be confused with Asclepias verticillata. A. quadrifolia occurs in the eastern United States and Canada.

<i>Helianthus decapetalus</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus decapetalus, known by the common names thinleaf sunflower and thin-leaved sunflower, is a perennial forb in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Eastern and Central United States and Canada, from New Brunswick west to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ontario, south as far as Georgia and Louisiana. It produces yellow composite flowers in late summer or early fall.

Lactuca graminifolia, the grassleaf lettuce is a North American species of wild lettuce. It grows in Mexico, Central America, Hispaniola, and the southern United States from Arizona to Florida, Virginia and the Carolinas.

<i>Lactuca hirsuta</i> Species of plant

Lactuca hirsuta, the hairy lettuce, is a North American species of wild lettuce. It is widespread across much of central Canada and the eastern and central United States from Ontario, Québec, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia south as far as Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.

Lactuca ludoviciana, the biannual lettuce, is a North American species of wild lettuce. It is widespread across much of central and western Canada and the western and central United States from Ontario west to British Columbia and south to Louisiana, Texas, and California. Most of the known populations are on the Great Plains; populations west of there may well represent naturalizations.

<i>Ranunculus hispidus</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus hispidus is a species of perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is commonly known as bristly buttercup or hispid buttercup. It is a small plant native to central and eastern North America that grows to a height up to 30 cm (1 ft) and has 5-petaled yellow flowers.

References

  1. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org.
  2. Tropicos, Lactuca floridana (L.) Gaertn.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Lactuca floridana". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Lactuca floridana page". www.missouriplants.com.
  5. "Lactuca floridana (False Lettuce, Florida Lettuce) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox". plants.ces.ncsu.edu.
  6. Fronczek; Gomez-Barrios; Fischer; Fronczek (1 October 2009). "11β,13-Dihydrolactucin-8-O-acetate hemihydrate". Acta Crystallogr E. 65 (Pt. 10): o2564–o2565. doi:10.1107/S160053680903829X. PMC   2970292 . PMID   21578003.
  7. 1 2 3 "Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info.
  8. Flora of North America, Lactuca floridana (Linnaeus) Gaertner, 1791.
  9. "Lactuca floridana - Plant Finder". www.missouribotanicalgarden.org.
  10. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  11. "Florida Lettuce (Woodland Lettuce)". Missouri Department of Conservation.