''Lactuca perennis'', common names: mountain lettuce, blue lettuce or perennial lettuce, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

plant species belonging to the genus ''

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 ...

'' of the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. It is widespread across most of central and southern Europe. Its leaves are edible.

Description

''Lactuca perennis'' reaches on average of height, with a minimum height of . This plant is glabrous, the stems is erect and branched, leaves are greyish-green, the lower ones with a small petioles, the upper ones partly amplexicaul. It is hermaphrodite and entomophilous. The flowers are violet-blue, with a size of . The flowering period extends from April through August and the seeds ripen from July until September.Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982. vol. III In southern France it is sometimes referred to by its Occitan name “breou�

or “breu�

Habitat

These plants prefer calcareous well-drained soils and they are common on sunny rocky soils, on dry meadows, on roadsides and on banks of rivers. They can be found on average at above sea level.

References

External links

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Biolib

Czech Botany

Zipcode Zoo, ''Lactuca''

perennis'' Plants for a Future
{{Taxonbar, from=Q882650 Lactuca, perennis Flora of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus