Leaf
GT1976, Wikimedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lettuce
Lactuca sativa L.
Also known as: Garden lettuce
Family: Asteraceae
20 to 40 cm as a rosette, up to 1 m in flower
Grown in vegetable gardens worldwide
Flowering: June – August if bolting
Full sun
Not very hardy, sensitive to strong heat and to frost depending on variety
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
When a lettuce 'bolts' (produces a flowering stem), its leaves turn bitter and inedible — a signal that harvesting must be done before that stage.
🍃 Leaves
Broad, tender, forming a rosette or a heart depending on the variety (butterhead, cos, cut-and-come-again)
🌸 Flowers
Small yellow flower heads, grouped in a panicle, appearing only if the plant bolts
🍎 Fruits
Achene topped with a silky pappus, as in the dandelion
🪵 Bark
Short herbaceous stem in a rosette, elongating strongly when bolting
🗺️ Distribution
Grown throughout France, one of the most widely eaten leaf vegetables
🐝 Value for pollinators
Flowers with little nectar, visited by small insects when the plant bolts
✂️ Horticultural uses
Leaf vegetable grown in the vegetable garden for its rosette, many varieties (butterhead, cos, cut-and-come-again, batavia)
⚠️ Possible toxicity
No known toxicity — leaves edible
🌿 Other Asteraceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
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