Lactuca serriola

(writing in progress)

Also see https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/59442-sonchus-oleraceus-undomesticated-but-perfect-for-human-consumption#

browsing Lactuca serriola (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66814011 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_serriola), which is also common and weedy hereabouts. Lactuca serriola is, after all, the ancestor of the domestic lettuce (Lactuca sativa, see https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1008611200727).

Lactuca serriola has a row of prickles on the abaxial side of the mid-rib of the leaf (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Kompassla_08-07-2006_9.39.08.JPG), which are not thistle-like but are the more discouraging of the two. The prickles, though small, are obvious because the leaves tend to be held by the plant at right angles to the normal orientation. To me, L. serriola looks less appetising than S. oleraceus.

Lettuce has been improved by selective breeding, perhaps to a fault. The cultivated leaves are soft, succulent, virtually free of bitterness, and completely free of astringency. But they also seem hardly worth eating from a nutritional viewpoint.

(writing in progress)

Posted on October 21, 2023 03:54 AM by milewski