Lactuca


Lactuca, commonly known as lettuce, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus includes at least 50 species, distributed worldwide, but mainly in temperate Eurasia.
Its best-known representative is the garden lettuce, with its many varieties. "Wild lettuce" commonly refers to the wild-growing relatives of common garden lettuce. Many species are common weeds. Lactuca species are diverse and take a wide variety of forms. They are annuals, biennials, perennials, or shrubs. Their flower heads have yellow, blue, or white ray florets. Some species are bitter-tasting.
Most wild lettuces are xerophytes, adapted to dry habitat types. Some occur in more moist areas, such as the mountains of central Africa.
Research revealed substantial genome size variation within the genus, ranging from 2.1 Gb in L. saligna to 5.5 Gb in L. indica. This expansion is primarily driven by the proliferation of repetitive elements and is associated with low DNA methylation levels and reduced expression of the CMT2 gene

Diversity

There are different concepts of the species within Lactuca. It is not clear how many distinct species are known, and estimates vary from 50 to 75 so far.
Species include:

Ecology

Lactuca species are used as food plants by the larvae of many Lepidoptera species.

Etymology

'Lactuca' is derived from Latin and means 'having milky sap'. 'Lactuca' and 'lactic' have the same root word, 'lactis'.