Lactuca biennis|tall blue lettuce|Asteraceae

Lactuca biennis.Marilee Lovit.New England Wild Flower Society.gobotany.newenglandwild.org. (Accessed 4/2014).

Lactuca biennis is an annual or biennial herb, (NYS S1, E) large, 60 cm to 3 m tall, sap milky.

Leaves alternate, 10-40 cm long, 4-20 cm wide, irregularly pinnately divided, base lobed, margin toothed, upper leaves stalkless.

Flowers blue-white, all rays, heads with 15-34 flowers, bracteate base about 1 cm tall in fruit; heads crowded in a narrow, branched inflorescence; blooms and fruits July-Sept.

Fruit dry 1-seeded achene, seed 0.5 cm with pale brown plume; seeds eaten by birds, plants eaten by deer (Martin et al. 1951).

Wetland status: FACU.

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent.

Origin: Native

Habitat: Moist open areas, gaps in open woods.

Related Terms:

Term: Martin et al. 1951

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Lactuca biennis tall blue lettuce Asteraceae LABI; Bx pb, wv (Yost et al. 1991); R, gb;