# Name that Weed - Wild Lettuce/Lactusa floridana



## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

Here's another one growing along our back fence. It's tall and skinny - some of them are over ten feet high! (I really need to get the mowing done.)


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

thistle


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## comfortablynumb (Nov 18, 2003)

its the hippy trippy pod plants from Omicron Ceti 3.. watch out for the spores.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Do the leaves smell of anything particularly?


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## Tater'sPa (Jun 27, 2002)

mustard


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## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

Not a thistle, not a mustard. Maybe I should post another picture to give you an idea of the scale. Seriously, this thing is ten feet tall!


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

DO the stems kinda look like rhubarb stalks?

If so, I'd say that it is common burdock.


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## Jimmy Mack (May 7, 2004)

going out on a limb here , and guessing that it might be...

BEARSFOOT


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I didn't think the leaves were quite like bearsfoot? Thought it might be Crambe Cordifolia (sea kale), but you said it isn't a mustard? The leaves look kind of like bear's breeches, but the flower is wrong.


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## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

definitely not sea kale. I'm headed out to take a better picture now...stand by.


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## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

Here's another picture of one of the smaller plants:

I also noticed that it is flowering out at the top into tiny whitish/purple flowers.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Think it might be wild lettuce?

Edited to add

I've seen it a lot in western colorado, growing in the desert. It can get over 4 ft tall with very little water. When you break it off, do you get a milky sap?


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## Tater'sPa (Jun 27, 2002)

Cyngbaeld said:


> Think it might be wild lettuce?
> 
> Edited to add


That's what i'm thinking after seeing the other pic.


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## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

I think Cybergeld (whatever!) got it! It is definitely some type of wild lettuce.

I almost thought I had you guys stumped on that one! Check out the link, it appears this plant has all sorts of medicinal uses!

Next!


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

The prarie dogs eat this stuff all the time. I think it must make them a little high. Then they start playing 'chicken' in the highway. 

My name means 'King Bold' in Old English. It is pronounced 'King Bald' with a long 'a'.
Just thought you'd want to know. :haha:


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## vicki in NW OH (May 10, 2002)

The smaller one with the whitish/purple flowers could be teasel. Doesn't wild lettuce have yellow flowers? At least around here they do.


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## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

the flowers aren't pokey though, so it can't be teasel. 

the ones on this plant weren't really open yet, so they might end up yellow...I'll have to go check.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Chuck, when you are near this plant break off a piece and smell it please. I still think we are wrong!


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## Jimmy Mack (May 7, 2004)

this variety of wild lettuce has blue flowers: Lactusa floridana

http://www.missouriplants.com/Bluealt/Lactuca_floridana_page.html

BINGO!!!


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## inc (Dec 24, 2004)

its the hippy trippy pod plants from Omicron Ceti 3..

correct.
virosa wild lettuce has been used as an 'opium substitute' in the 70s or 80s. at least, some were said to have made a lot of money off it, as it can produce a material tat LOOKS like raw opium.
however, ive eaten plenty andther is no narcotics in it.
plant owner- is there any way i can get seeds of this plant form you? it appears to be a form fo lactuca florida and i dont have that one, only virosa. you will have to get seeds in july aug., old ones dont sprout.


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