Lactuca sativa L., Sp. Pl. 795. 1753. Lactuca scariola var. sativa Boiss., Fl. Orient. 3: 809. 1875; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 404. 1881.

Eng.: Garden lettuce; Hindi: Salad.

Herbs, annual or biennial, with thick, woody rootstock; stems 30 - 80 cm high, erect, glabrous, succulent, leafy. Leaves ovate-oblong, minutely spinulose-toothed, 3 - 15 x 3 - 7 cm, succulent, sessile with auriculate base. Heads on leafy paniculate branches, many, 0.5 - 1 x 0.3 - 0.4 cm erect, glabrous, many flowered; peduncle white, erect, slender, with many small bracts. Outer involucral bracts ovate, 3 - 5 x 1.5 - 2.5 mm; inner narrowly linear, 7 - 10 x 1 - 2.5 mm, finely membranous. Ligules yellow. Achenes blackish brown, oblanceolate, 6 - 7 mm long including the long white beak, 6 - 8 ribbed, glabrous or sparsely hairy towards margin. Pappus whitish, 3 - 4 mm, simple, much shorter than the achenes.

Fl. & Fr. March - Nov.

Distrib. India: In plains as well in the hills in moist localities, up to 2600 m. Jammu & kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, ,Meghalaya, Orissa and Punjab.

Asia, S. America and N. Europe.

Notes. Commonly known as garden lettuce and cultivated as a leafy vegetable, also fairly wild.