Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Uses | Warning | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Lactuca scariola L.
- Lactuca virosa L.
- Composite family
Common Names
- Wild lettuce
Parts Usually Used
Leaves, sap
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Annual or biennial; 2-7 feet tall. Leaves oblong to lance-shaped or dandelion-like but prickly; margins with weak spines. Flowers yellow, dandelion-like. July to October.
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Where Found
Waste places in the United States. Originally from Europe.
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Medicinal Properties
Hypnotic, sedative, lowers blood sugar levels
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Uses
Native Americans used leaf tea to stimulate milk flow; diuretic. Also used to combat insomnia. Lowers blood sugar levels. Culpeper says he knows no use for the lettuce root.
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Warning
Do not drive or operate machinery, may cause drowsiness.
Excessive doses may cause insomnia or increased sexual drive.
May cause dermatitis or internal poisoning.
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Bibliography
The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.
Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss; Back to Eden Publishing Co., Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994
How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts, by Frances Densmore, Dover Publications, Inc., 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)
The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000
Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023