Lactuca serriola L. Compass Plant

Lactuca serriola L. - Compass Plant

Scientific Description:

Erect biennial 25−150 cm. Stems glabrous, usually ± spinulose in lower part, sometimes strongly so. Leaves held vertically in one plane, pale green, glaucous, variable, usually ± runcinate-pinnatisect with 2−8 lateral lobes, usually sinuate-denticulate, ciliate-spinulose, weakly to strongly spinulose on midrib beneath, lamina sometimes sparsely setulose, otherwise glabrous, auriculate; median cauline 3−16 × 1.5−7.5 cm. Inflorescence divaricately branched, ± cylindrical, paniculiform, many-capitulate; capitula except terminal ± sessile, solitary or in small clusters; bracts and pedicels glabrous. Involucre 7−15 mm, longer in fruit than in flower; phyllaries 13−15, 3-seriate, glabrous, sometimes purple-tinged. Flowers yellow or pale yellow, c. 1 cm, densely hairy about mouth. Achenes 6.5−8 mm, pale brown, with many narrow ribs, with rather long whitish hairs and slender, pallid 3.5−5 mm beak. Pappus white, 4.5−6 mm.

 

Flowering time: July−September.

Habitat: Grassy and rocky slopes, field margins, fallow and cultivated fields, s.l.−1750 m.

 

Reference:
Jeffrey C (1975). Lactuca serriola L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 5: 778−779.

Public Description:

Lactuca serriola, known as “prickly lettuce”, “compass plant” and “scarole”, is distributed in Central and Southern Europe, including England, from the Netherlands south and east to North Africa, Asia and the Himalayas. It is an erect biennial herb with yellow flowers, and grows up to 150 cm in length. It blooms between July and September and is found in grassy and rocky slopes, field margins, fallow and cultivated fields. “Lactuca” is a Latin word meaning “having milky sap”.

 

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_serriola/, Accessed date: 21.01.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Lactuca+serriola/, Accessed date: 21.01.2016.

Ekim T (2012). Lactuca L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 179–181.