Share The Seeds
Botany and Research => Botanical Information => Topic started by: SeppukuSuperstar on November 10, 2020, 12:41:28 AM
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I came across this in an old textbook and thought it was a bit interesting. Has anyone grown this?
Common Blue Lettuce
Lactuca tatarica
Height: up to 1 metre
Leaves: 5-12 cm long
Flowers: 25 diameter, blue/purple
Blue lettuce and other Lactuca species may cause skin irritation or internal poisoning. When collected and dried, the milky sap forms a drug known as lactucarium, also called lettuce opium because of its sedative and analgesic properties. Used as far back as ancient Egypt, lettuce opium was viewed as a weak alternative to opium that did not have the side effects of addiction and intestinal upset.
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Not blue lettuce specifically but there is a lot of Lactuca virosa and Lactuca serriola (supposedly the species with the greatest quantity of lactucarium) growing wild as weeds near me. I've heard when used medicinally it's extremely mild.