Wild Lettuce

August 07, 2016
Wild Lettuce
Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey
Wild Lettuce

Aug 07 2016 |

/

Show Notes

IMG_7980 There are about 90 species of Lactuca found around the world, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. Arizona Flora lists 4 species and one of those is the varmint Lactuca serriola (“varmint” means introduced European native). Lactuca sativa is the mother of all cultivated lettuces. I looked in a favorite vegetable seed catalogue and it listed over 90 varieties of Lactuca sativa. Whoa! That’s because of all the specialty lettuces you can find at farmers’ markets or in restaurants or in clear plastic boxes in grocery stores. And all you wanted was a head of iceberg! The specific epithet sativa, by the way, means cultivated, so whenever you see that in a botanical name you can assume the plant was or still is cultivated.

Grass leaf lettuce or Lactuca  graminifolia  is found over much of Arizona from 5,000′ to 8,000′ in elevation, and, just in case you didn’t know, Lactuca is in the Asteraceae, and now you do.

Other Episodes

Episode

June 16, 2015
Episode Cover

Tegeticula yuccasella and Yucca elata

Petey explains how a tiny moth insures the soaptree yucca will have seed. Wow.

Listen

Episode

August 15, 2018 00:05:12
Episode Cover

Wild Lettuce in the HIlls

Lettuce has been cultivated for thousands of years and there is no longer the wild version of Lactuca sativa. Well duh, sativa does mean...

Listen

Episode 0

August 27, 2024 00:04:28
Episode Cover

A Strong Gift in Bisbee

I had a chance to use the word didymus when describing the seed pods of Menodora, but forgot, so here: the common name twinberry...

Listen