All plants /Ground /Wild Lettuce
Wild Lettuce
Lactuca canadensis, aster family. Common in East and Central Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Young basal leaves
- How
- Young raw, older cooked
- When
- Spring
- Where
- Fields, roadsides, disturbed ground
- Value
- A bitter spring green
Caution: Eat the young leaves; older plants turn very bitter. A safe wild ancestor of garden lettuce. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
A tall lettuce with milky sap and leaves that clasp the stem, often with a row of prickles down the midrib underneath.
In the kitchen
Young rosette leaves eat like a sharp lettuce; cook the bitterness out of older ones as you would dandelion.
Photo: George F Mayfield from chicago area, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.