Lactuca (Noun)
Meaning
An herb with milky juice: lettuce; prickly lettuce.
Classification
Nouns denoting plants.
Examples
- Lactuca serriola, commonly known as prickly lettuce, is a biennial herb with milky sap.
- In botanical nomenclature, Lactuca virosa is another term for the species wild lettuce or opium lettuce.
- Some farmers find Lactuca a problematic weed because of its potential to grow densely in arable land.
- There are approximately 100 species in the genus Lactuca, most of which have leaves and stalks containing a milky juice.
- While commonly called prickly lettuce, the herb Lactuca serriola does not produce lettuce that is commercially harvested for its edible leaves.