Asteraceae
Lactuca sativa
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Useful
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Herb |
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Look for
Lettuce in Bloom on:
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Sitio Riacho Torto
Franco da Rocha,SP
Brazil
The lettuce plant has a short stem initially (a rosette growth habit), but when it gradually blooms, the stem and branches lengthen and produce many flower heads that look like those of dandelions, but smaller. This is referred to as bolting. When grown to eat, lettuce is harvested before it bolts. |
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Add to Compare Species
What's This?
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Star Order (Daisies) |
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Main, Real, Two First-Leaves (Dicots) |
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Real, Two First-Leaves (Dicots) |
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Half Capsule Seed Division |
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Magnolia Division |
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Seed Plants |
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Multiple Spore Sub-Kingdom |
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Multicellular Land Plants |
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Cells with a Nucleus |
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Requires light, sandy, humus-rich, moist soil. Dry conditions can cause the plants to go to seed (known as bolting). It is normally grown by early and late sowing in sunny positions, or summer crops in shade.Ideally, lettuce plants require a rich, humous-laden soil that will hold moisture in the summer. They may require the soil to have lime added as a soil pH of 6.5 is just right. Quite often though, lettuce is grown between rows of slower growing plants like brussel sprouts or broccoli etc. This is called a catch crop. Water is a vital ingredient and lettuce prefers the soil to be moist at all times. Lettuce plants do not like hot sunny conditions, preferring a lightly shaded site for summer varieties.
Sow spring lettuce seeds are commonly grown at a sunny site outdoors in mild areas. It may not be necessary to give glass protection (cloche).
The possibility of failure increases the more the ground becomes poorly drained or over exposed.
Some lettuces (especially iceberg) have been specifically bred to remove the bitterness from their leaves. These lettuces have high water content and so are less "nutritionally dense" than are the more bitter lettuces and those with darker leaves. While all lettuces contain antioxidants and Vitamin K, romaine and looseleaf lettuce contain five to six times the Vitamin C and five to ten times the Vitamin A of iceberg. Romaine and butterhead lettuce are good sources of folate. Lettuce naturally absorbs and concentrates lithium.
Head of Lettuce
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Head of Lettuce
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Lettuce in Bloom, Lactuca sativa |
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