| Scientific name: | Lactuca scariola L. | |
| Swedish name: | Taggsallat | |
| German name: | Kompaß-Lattich | |
| Nederlandse naam: | Kompassla | |
| English name: | Prickly Lettuce | |
| Plant Family: | Compositae / Asteraceae, Sunflower family, Korgblommiga växter |
|
|
| Life form: | annual or biennial plant | |
| Stems: | Light green or dull white, glabrous, and round in circumference. | |
| Leaves: | Alternate, lobed, prickly | |
| Flowers: | Resembles a cone, approximately 10 mm wide and composed of 5 to 12 yellow toothed petals. | |
| Flowering Period: | July-August | |
| Fruits: | Grey or light brown achene with a thread-like beak that terminates in a small tuft of white hair. This beak is white and about the same length as the achene, or slightly longer | |
| Habitat: | A weed of nurseries, orchards, roadsides |
Derivation of the botanical name: Lactuca, lac, "milk", referring to its milky juice of the plant. serriola,serro, "saw" for the saw-tooth like edges to the leaves. Lactuca serriola has leaves with prickles along the margins and on the midveins of the lower leaf surfaces and all parts of the plants emit a milky sap when cut.
|