Lactuca indica L.

Indian lettuce (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Asterales > Asteraceae > Lactuca

Characteristics

Stout leafy annual herb to 4 m. Leaves up to 20 x 5 cm, often much narrower, entire, denticulate, pinnatifid, pinnatisect, or runcinate-pinnatisect, the lower attenuate into a winged petiole-like base, the upper sessile, not or scarcely auricled. Heads many in a long relatively narrow panicle. Involucre up to 14 x 6 mm. Flowers yellow. Achenes c. 4.5 mm long including 1 mm beak, oblong, rounded at both ends, strongly compressed, median rib on each face, broadly winged, transversely wrinkled, black.
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Leaves cauline sessile, not or scarcely auriculate, glabrous; lower leaves up to c. 22 x 14 cm., pinnatipartite, narrowly ovate to broadly elliptic in outline, remotely 2–5-lobed, the terminal lobe up to c. 9.5 x 2.5 cm. lanceolate, lateral lobes up to c. 5.5 x 1 cm. lorate; upper leaves smaller, undivided and lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, sometimes lobed.
Achenes dark-brown or black 4.5–5 x 1.5–2 mm. including a c. 1 mm. long paler-coloured beak, flattened-ellipsoid, ± winged on the margins and narrowly 1(2)-ribbed on each face, glabrous; pappus several-seriate, of white barbellate setae c. 7 mm. long.
Capitula numerous, stalked; stalks up to c. 2.5 cm. long, imbricately bracteolate particularly when young; involucres 8–10 x 3.5–4 mm., cylindric at time of flowering, increasing to c. 14 x 7 mm. and becoming pyriform in fruiting capitula.
A herb. It is an erect plant and forms tillers. It can grow 1.3 m high. The stem leaves can often have red marks. The leaf shape varies. The lower leaves are more oval and the stem leaves are more narrow.
Florets 20–28 per capitulum; corollas yellow 13–15 mm. long, tube slender, cylindric, pubescent about the mouth; ligule c. 7–9 x 1.5–2 mm., lorate, glabrous.
Phyllaries 4–5-seriate, glabrous; the outermost 2–5 mm. long, ovate; the innermost to c. 14 mm. long, lorate-lanceolate.
Synflorescence paniculate; branches ascending, glabrous with ovate to narrowly lanceolate bracts.
A stout erect leafy annual or biennial herb up to c. 1.5(4) m. tall.
Stems solitary, branching above, glabrous.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 1.2
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) 1.5
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Grassy places in lowland all over Japan. This report refers to the sub-species L. indica laciniata. (O.Kuntze.)Hard. The plant is found at elevations from near sea level to 2,000 metres.
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Grassy places in lowland all over Japan. This report refers to the sub-species L. indica laciniata. (O.Kuntze.)Hard. The plant is found at elevations from near sea level to 2,000 metres.
A tropical plant. In China it grows in mountain valleys between 200-3,000 m above sea level. In Yunnan.
Light 4-9
Soil humidity 4-6
Soil texture 3-6
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 7-12

Usage

The young leaves are eaten boiled, steamed or added to soups. They are also eaten raw. They are also used for wrapping and frying fish. The roots are pickled.
Uses animal food fodder food gene source medicinal social use
Edible leaves roots stems
Therapeutic use Depurative (unspecified), Digestive (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seeds. Seedlings are often put in a nursery and transplanted after 25 days. They are planted at a spacing of 25 cm. New plants can grow from roots left in the ground.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) 84
Germination temperacture (C°) -5 - 3
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 22 - 34
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Flower

Lactuca indica flower picture by Kenneth Parker (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Lactuca indica world distribution map, present in Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Indonesia, India, Jamaica, Japan, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Liberia, Madagascar, Myanmar, Mauritius, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Réunion, Seychelles, Thailand, Taiwan, Province of China, Viet Nam, and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:228047-1
WFO ID wfo-0000039155
COL ID 3RT6G
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 709052
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lactuca indica f. runcinata Lactuca squarrosa Lactuca squarrosa f. runcinata Prenanthes laciniata Lactuca brevirostris Pterocypsela indica Lactuca bialata Sonchus calyculatus Prenanthes patens Brachyramphus sonchifolius Lactuca cavaleriei Lactuca dracoglossa Scariola brevirostris Chondrilla indica Lactuca indica Prenanthes squarrosa Prenanthes taraxacoides Prenanthes indica Lactuca brevirostris Brachyramphus taraxacoides Lactuca mauritiana Chondrilla sonchifolia Brachyramphus sinicus Chondrilla squarrosa Chondrilla racemosa Microrhynchus patens Prenanthes racemosa Lactuca amurensis Lactuca amurensis Lactuca indica f. indica Brachyramphus heyneanus Lactuca kouyangensis Pterocypsela laciniata Lactuca squarrosa f. squarrosa Pterocypsela indivisa Lactuca squarrosa Ammoseris patens Lactuca brevirostris var. laciniatis Lactuca indica var. foliislaciniatis Lactuca squarrosa var. squarrosa Lactuca brevirostris var. brevirostris Lactuca indica var. foliisindivisis Pterocypsela indica var. indica Lactuca brevirostris var. indivisis Lactuca squarrosa var. dentata Lactuca indica var. ldracoglossa Lactuca indica var. indica Pterocypsela indica var. laciniata Lactuca indica var. macrothyrsa Lactuca indica var. subintegerrima Lactuca squarrosa var. runcinato-pinnatifida Lactuca indica var. dentata Lactuca indica var. laciniata Lactuca squarrosa var. integrifolia Lactuca indica f. indivisa Lactuca jamaicensis Lactuca squarrosa f. indivisa Lactuca indica var. foliis