Lactuca pulchella, known as blue lettuce, common blue lettuce, or wild blue lettuce, is a North American flowering plant in the sunflower family, Asteraceae.[1] Some authors place it as a subspecies or variety of a broader concept of Lactuca tatarica, while others consider L. tatarica to occur only in Europe and Asia.[1][2] Lactuca pulchella (with L. tatarica and others) is commonly separated into the genus Mulgedium, as Mulgedium pulchellum.[3][4]

Lactuca pulchella
Flower and buds
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Lactuca
Species:
L. pulchella
Binomial name
Lactuca pulchella
DC.

Uses

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Among the Zuni people of New Mexico in the southwestern United States, the dried root gum of Lactuca pulchella has been used as chewing gum.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Lactuca pulchella DC". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Lactuca tatarica (L.) C.A.Mey". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  3. ^ John L. Strother. "Mulgedium pulchellum". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 19, 20 and 21. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 January 2021 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. ^ Brouillet L. et al. 2010+. "Mulgedium pulchellum (Pursh) G. Don". data.canadensys.net. Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Retrieved 10 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Stevenson, Matilda Coxe (1915). Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30. p. 68.