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Willow-Leaf Lettuce

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Willow-leaf Lettuce photos


Scientific Name:Lactuca saligna
Willow-leaf Lettuce plants
Willow-leaf plants
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Names:

Least Lettuce, Wild Lettuce

Status:

Native to Europe and western Asia. Naturalised throughout most of Australia.

Plant Description:

Annual or biennial herb to 100 cm high with erect and branched stems. Leaves, 8-20 cm long and 0.5-5 cm wide, green with a pale whitish midrib. Lower leaves with a few narrow backward pointing lobes. Upper leaves linear and without lobes, becoming bract-like below the flower-heads.


Flower-heads, 2-3 in leaf axils, 7-10 mm long. Flowers pale yellow with each ‘petal’ (actually a complete flower) 4-5 mm long. Fruit a cypsela, 5-9 mm long, grey-brown.

Habitat:

Scattered across northern and western parts of Victoria. Often growing with
Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) in wasteland and on the margins of streams, lakes and swamps. Appears to be tolerant of some salinity.

RegionSalinity ClassWaterlogging Class
Loddon Murray, Central and Northern, Wimmera, Western, GippslandS0, S1W0, W1, W2

Comments:

Willow-leaf Lettuce belongs to a group of mainly yellow-flowered daisies in the Tribe
Lactuceae. The plants in this tribe are characterised by having a basal rosette of leaves (flat-weeds), milky sap in their stems and their flower-heads consisting entirely of ray florets (i.e. no ‘eye’ to the daisy). See Key to Yellow Daisy Flat-weeds.
      Photos of Willow-leaf Lettuce

      Willow-leaf Lettuce stem and leaves
      Willow-leaf Lettuce leaves and stem
      Photo: A J Brown
      Basal leaf of Willow-leaf Lettuce
      Willow-leaf Lettuce basal leaf
      Photo: A J Brown

      Flowers and buds of Willow-leaf Lettuce
      Flowers and buds of Willow-leaf Lettuce
      Photo: A J Brown

      Willow-leaf Lettuce buds
      Willow-leaf Lettuce buds
      Photo: A J Brown

      Mature seed of Willow-leaf Lettuce
      Mature seed of Willow-leaf Lettuce
      Photo: A J Brown

      Willow-leaf Lettuce flower
      Willow-leaf Lettuce flower
      Photo: A J Brown
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