Flora of North America species comparison

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Lactuca virosa

bitter lettuce, great lettuce, poison wild lettuce, tall lettuce, wild lettuce
Habit Biennials, 20–120(–200+) cm.
Leaves

on proximal 1/2–2/3 of each stem;

blades of undivided cauline leaves obovate to spatulate, margins denticulate, midribs usually prickly-setose.
Involucres

12–15 mm.
Florets

10–15;

corollas yellow, usually deliquescent.
Phyllaries

usually reflexed in fruit.
Heads

in paniculiform arrays.
Cypselae

bodies purplish to blackish, ± flattened, ± elliptic, 3.5–4 mm, beaks ± filiform, 2.5–3.5 mm, faces 5–7-nerved;

pappi white, 5–6 mm.
2n

= 18.

Lactuca virosa
Phenology Flowering May, Oct.
Habitat Disturbed sites
Elevation 10–400 m (0–1300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; DC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 262.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Cichorieae > Lactuca
Sibling taxa
L. biennis, L. canadensis, L. floridana, L. graminifolia, L. hirsuta, L. ludoviciana, L. saligna, L. sativa, L. serriola
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 795. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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