Lettuce is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled. One variety, celtuce, is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. As of 2017, world production of lettuce and chicory was 27 million tonnes, 56 percent of which came from China.
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.
An oak leaf is the leaf of an oak.
Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad greens.
Celtuce, also called stem lettuce, celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, or Chinese lettuce, is a cultivar of lettuce grown primarily for its thick stem or its leaves. It is used as a vegetable. In mainland China, the family is informally called woju, which is also the name of a cultivar. It is especially popular in both mainland China and Taiwan, where the stem is interchangeably called wosun or qingsun.
Lactuca virosa is a plant in the Lactuca (lettuce) genus, often ingested for its mild analgesic and sedative effects. It is related to common lettuce, and is often called wild lettuce, bitter lettuce, laitue vireuse, opium lettuce, poisonous lettuce, tall lettuce, great lettuce or rakutu-karyumu-so.
Romaine or cos lettuce is a variety of lettuce that grows in a tall head of sturdy dark green leaves with firm ribs down their centers. Unlike most lettuces, it is tolerant of heat. In North America, romaine is often sold as whole heads or as "hearts" that have had the outer leaves removed and are often packaged together.
Sativa, sativus, and sativum are Latin botanical adjectives meaning cultivated. It is often associated botanically with plants that promote good health and used to designate certain seed-grown domestic crops.
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.
Wild lettuce is a common name for several lactucarium-containing plants related to lettuce. The name most often refers to Lactuca virosa, though it may also refer to:
Tall lettuce is a common name for several plants related to lettuce and may refer to:
Lactuca canadensis is a species of wild lettuce known by the common names Canada lettuce, Canada wild lettuce, tall lettuce, and Florida blue 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.
Lactuca muralis, the wall lettuce, is a perennial flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae, also referred to as Mycelis muralis.
Cucullia lactucae, the lettuce shark, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in most of Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus and east across the Palearctic to the Altai mountains. In the Alps it rises to 1,800 metres (5,900 ft). It is found mainly in barren places, on weeds and debris and scree corridors on slopes, shrubby edges and in vineyards, gardens and parks.
Red leaf lettuces are a group of lettuce cultivars with red leaves. Red leaf lettuce cultivars include "Lollo Rossa", "New Red Fire Lettuce", "Red Sails Lettuce", "Redina Lettuce", "Henry's Leafy Friend", Galactic Lettuce", and the "Benito Lettuce".
China is the world leader in lettuce production, producing half of the world's lettuce. Stem lettuce is grown in the country and the stems are prepared as a cooked vegetable. According to estimates given by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2006, China produced around 11,005,000 metric tonnes of lettuce on 500,250 hectares of land. In 2010, the FAO reported that some 12,574,500 tonnes of lettuce were produced during that year. Taiwan is also a producer of good quality head lettuce, which is an export commodity.
The Kratky method is a passive hydroponic technique for growing plants suspended above a reservoir of nutrient-rich water. Because it is a non-circulating technique, no additional inputs of water or nutrients are needed after the original application, and no electricity, pumps, or water and oxygen circulation systems are required. The Kratky method has applications both for commercial food production and as a small-scale and low-maintenance technique for home growers. It has been described as "the simplest hydroponic system."
Lactuca indica, the Indian lettuce, is a species of plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It is native to western China, the Himalayas, and southwest Asia as far west as Turkey. It is widely introduced elsewhere, even as far as east Africa, and is thought to be an archaeophyte in Japan, brought in with rice cultivation.
Lactuca longifolia can refer to:
