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woodland lettuce
Lactuca floridana
Lactuca floridana, commonly known as woodland lettuce, Florida lettuce, or false lettuce, is a North American species of wild lettuce. It is native across much of central Canada and the eastern and central United States.
Lactuca floridana is an annual or biennial plant in the Cichorieae (dandelion) tribe within the Asteraceae (daisy) family. Lactuca floridana was found to contain 11β,13-Dihydro-lactucin-8-O-acetate hemihydrate.
From the article Lactuca floridana on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
L. floridana is a tall plant, growing to a height of 0.9–2.4 m (3–8 ft). It is usually unbranched with a central stem that is light or reddish green and hairless. It has a pure white, milky sap. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate-oblong, and up to 25 cm (10 in) long and 8 cm (3 in) across. The largest leaves are often deeply pinnately lobed, although the leaves in general are variable and can be lobed or unlobed. The top of the stem bears a multibranched inflorescence with many flower heads. Each head contains 10–20 blue or white ray florets but no disc florets. The fruit is a brown achene.
Range & habitat
L. floridana is native in the United States from Texas in the west, Florida in the south, Massachusetts in the east, and the Canadian border in the north. In Canada it is native in Manitoba and Ontario, although it is possibly extirpated in Manitoba and it's critically imperiled in Ontario. Habitats include disturbed areas, prairies, along roadsides, pastures, and miscellaneous waste areas.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
What it does
The plant blooms from July to October, and the nectar and pollen of the flowers attract bees.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
In human culture
The genus name Lactuca is based on the Latin word for milk, "lac", and refers to the milky sap. The specific epithet means "of Florida".
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Lactuca floridana in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 130990.