Lactuca dissecta D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 164. 1825; Hook.f. Fl. Brit. India 3: 405. 1881. Lactuca auriculata DC., Prodr. 7: 140. 1838.

Herbs, annual; stems 4 - 40 cm high, suberect or prostrate, glabrous, or sparsely scabrid, dichotomously branched from base. Leaves very variable in lobation, almost pinnatifid, to entire or lyrate or runcinate pinnatifid, 4 - 20 x 0.5 - 3.5 cm; lobes entire or sparingly toothed; uppermost leaves linear. Heads corymbose, narrowly cylindric, 1.0 - 1.2 x 0.3 - 0.4 cm, erect, 10 - 20 flowered; peduncle 1.1 - 2.5 cm, very slender with few bracts. Outer involucral bracts ovate or obovate, 2.5 - 3.5 x 0.5 - 1.0 mm; inner linear or linear-oblong, 7 - 12 x 1.0 - 1.5 mm. Achenes oblanceolate, 6.0 - 7.0 mm long including the white beak, much compressed, 3-ribbed on each face. Pappus white or yellowish white, 2.5 - 4.0 mm, simple.

Fl. & Fr. April - Oct.

Uses. India: W. Himalayas, Gangetic plains, on fields and wastelands, 300-3500 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.

Tibet, Afghanistan and Pakistan.