Lactuca viminea (L.) J.Presl & C.Presl (= Scariola viminea (L.) F.W.Schmidt) Pliant Lettuce

Lactuca viminea (L.) J.Presl & C.Presl (= Scariola viminea (L.) F.W.Schmidt) - Pliant Lettuce

Scientific Description:

Biennial with taproot; stems 30−130 cm, whitish or straw-coloured, ± slender, virgate, erect, glabrous. Basal and median cauline leaves pinnatisect or runcinate-pinnatisect, with 4−10 usually narrow entire or sinuate-dentate lateral lobes, sessile, glabrous or crispate-setulose on surfaces or on mid-rib only, 2.5−12 × 0.5−4 cm, 0.3-3.5 cm, decurrent; upper reduced. Inflorescences usually much branched, sometimes simple, branches spiciform, with numerous sessile capitula borne singly or in small clusters; peduncles glabrous, bracts glabrous or sparsely crispate-setulose. Involucre 8.5−21 mm, longer in fruit than in flower; phyllaries 9−11, 3-seriate, glabrous, sometimes purple-tinged. Flowers 1.3−1.6 cm, hairy about mouth. Achenes 9.5−15 mm, blackish, attenuate into 4.5−6 mm beak. Pappus white, 4.5-10.5 mm.

 

Flowering time: July−September.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, screes, stony and gravelly places and bases of cliffs, roadsides, field margins, 800−2300 m.

 

Reference:
Jeffrey C (1975). Scariola viminea (L.) F.W.Schmidt, In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 5: 783.

Public Description:

Lactuca viminea, commonly known as “pliant lettuce”, is widespread across much of Europe and southwestern Asia from Portugal to Pakistan. It is a branching biennial subshrub and grows up to 130 cm in length. It has yellow ray flowers with scale-like uppermost leaves. It blooms between July and September, and is found in rocky slopes, screes, stony and gravelly places and bases of cliffs, roadsides and field margins

 

References:

Anonymous (2017). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_viminea, Accessed date: 23.12.2017.

Ekim T (2012). Lactuca, 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.