Lactuca indica L.
Family
Compositae
Synonyms
Lactuca brevirostris Champ. ex Benth.
Vernacular Names
|
Malaysia |
Daun panjang. |
|
English |
Indian lettuce. |
|
Indonesia |
Komak, lampenas (Sundanese), sawi rana (Javanese). |
|
Philippines |
Gilgiloy (Bisaya), batudan (Bontoc), gatudan (Kankanai). |
|
Vietnam |
Di[ees]p d[aj]i, rau b[oof] c[os]c, b[oof] c[oo]ng anh. |
Geographical Distributions
Lactuca indica is native to the warmer parts of China, Taiwan, and southern Japan, where it occurs wild and cultivated. It has been introduced into Southeast Asia, probably by Chinese immigrants, and is relatively common in Indonesia and Malaysia, where it sometimes occurs as an escape from cultivation.
Description
Lactuca indica is a perennial, erect, tillering, laticiferous herb, with radical rosette when young and grows up to 2 m tall when flowering.
The leaves are arranged alternate, sessile, oblong-Ianceolate, very variable in shape and dimension, with narrowed base and acute apex, measuring 5-35 cm x 1-10 cm and often with a red midrib.
The inflorescence is terminal, paniculiform or corymbiform, measures 50-100 cm long, many-branched and with numerous relatively small (2 cm x 5-7 mm) flower heads. The involucral bracts are partly ovate (outer ones) and partly oblong-linear-Ianceolate (inner ones). The flowers are with ligule, bright yellow, patent or obliquely erect.
The fruit is one-seeded, flat, elliptical, measuring 3-4 mm x 2 mm, black, shortly beaked, hard and at the top with a tuft of white hairs.
Ecology / Cultivation
Lactuca indica is cultivated from the lowlands up to 2000 m altitude. Sometimes, it grows wild as an escape from cultivation in ravines, waste places, fields and forest borders, roadsides, and plantations of perennial crops. It prefers fertile, well-drained soils with a high organic matter content, but tolerates a wide range of soils.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
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Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 8: Vegetables.
