READ ME: Since making this video, I have encountered some specimens of Canadian Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis) in the bolted stage with no hairs on their midribs whatsoever. If this is the case, another characteristic you can use is the shape of the midrib. Wild lettuce midribs should have a triangular crosssection! You can read more about this in my wild lettuce ID article https://feralforaging.com/howtoiden...

This is where we buy wild lettuce products from https://wildlettuce.com use code "feral" for 10% off your order!

Wild lettuce (Lactuca) has several prominent historical medicinal uses in addition to being edible! Many people seek this plant out in order to use it for medicinal purposes today. In order to accomplish this safely, we need to be able to positively identify wild lettuce. This video explores the characteristics of wild lettuce and the specific details to distinguish it from close lookalikes. By the end, I hope you will have much better confidence in how to identify wild lettuce!

The two species that are covered in this video are Canadian Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis) and Prickly Lettuce or Wild "Opium" Lettuce (Lactuca serriola). However, the ID principles generally apply across the genus.

The three other plants that we'll observe and compare it to are Common Dandelion (Taraxacum offinicale), Sow Thistle (Sonchus), and Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans).

I hope you will find it helpful and be able to identify wild lettuce in the wild!

(Lactuca virosa shot from strictly medicinal, also a place to buy seeds! https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/pr... )

Article on my website with a link to a video on how to process the lettuce into the concentrated extract shown in the video! https://feralforaging.com/howtoiden...

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Premise
0:20 Introduction
1:17 Wild Lettuce Details
2:39 The Key Distinguishing Detail
3:24 Comparing to Dandelion
4:02 Comparing to Sow Thistle
4:40 Comparing to True Thistle
5:07 Wrapping Up
5:21 Closing Thoughts

Hope you find the video helpful. Be Feral and Keep Foraging!


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