Lactuca tatarica
species of plant
Lactuca tatarica, known as blue lettuce, is a Eurasian flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of Europe and Asia.
Lactuca tatarica is a herb up to 60 cm (2 feet) tall with a large taproot. Most of the leaves are near the base of the plant and are larger than leaves higher up the stem. Each flower head has about 20 blue or purple (rarely white) ray flowers and no disc flowers.
Some authors have placed the North American species Lactuca pulchella as a subspecies or variety of a broader concept of Lactuca tatarica, while others consider L. tatarica to occur only in Europe and Asia. Lactuca tatarica (with L. pulchella and others) is commonly separated into the genus Mulgedium, as Mulgedium tatarica.
“Lactuca tatarica” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lactuca, tatarica and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2395449. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lactuca tatarica” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.