Lactuca remotiflora
DC. in Wight, Contrib. Bot. Ind. 26. 1834; Hook.f., Fl.
Brit. India 403 1881.
Herbs, annual or biennial; stems 25 - 60 cm high, glabrous, slender, branched. Leaves
mostly radical, obovate, orbicular; or oblong, pinnatifid, finely spinulose or ciliate-toothed, 5 - 14 x 3 - 5 cm, glabrous, membranous, narrowed at base. Inflorescence spicate
or racemose on long flowering branches. Heads usually solitary, 1 - 1.3 x 0.4 - 0.5 cm,
peduncle slender with few bracts. Outer involucral bracts ovate, 3 - 3.5 x 1 - 1.8 mm, finely
glabrous, acute, with broad scarious margins; inner linear-oblong, 10 - 12 x 2 - 2.5 mm,
glabrous, subobtuse, with scarious margins, with thick and broad base. Ligules pink.
Achenes blackish, 4 - 5 mm long, slightly compressed, muricate, ribbed, gradually
contracted in to a small and very slender, pale beak, nearly as long as the papus. Pappus
milky white, 4 - 6 mm, persistent.
Fl. & Fr. Sept.- Dec.
Distrib. India: On dry sandy locations, 300-1200 m. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Pakistan, Africa and Arabia.
Notes. Jeffrey (1966) has treated both Laduca runcinala DC. and Lactuca remotiflora DC. as synonyms of Launaea intybacea. L. remotiflora is a small and more delicate plant than L. runcinata. It has nearly entire (rarely sparsely dentate at margin), glabrous, usually orbicular or obovate leaves and less branched flowering stems, whereas in L. runcinata the leaves are usually pinnatifid or runcinate-pinnatifid, large (usually sharply cut with spinous and white cartilanginous teeth), usually pubescent, oblanceolate-oblong or oblanceolate with deeply cut lobes and usually much branched flowering stems.
Fl. & Fr. Sept.- Dec.
Distrib. India: On dry sandy locations, 300-1200 m. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Pakistan, Africa and Arabia.
Notes. Jeffrey (1966) has treated both Laduca runcinala DC. and Lactuca remotiflora DC. as synonyms of Launaea intybacea. L. remotiflora is a small and more delicate plant than L. runcinata. It has nearly entire (rarely sparsely dentate at margin), glabrous, usually orbicular or obovate leaves and less branched flowering stems, whereas in L. runcinata the leaves are usually pinnatifid or runcinate-pinnatifid, large (usually sharply cut with spinous and white cartilanginous teeth), usually pubescent, oblanceolate-oblong or oblanceolate with deeply cut lobes and usually much branched flowering stems.
