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(updated September 8, 2023) 

Hairy Lettuce, Downy Lettuce   

Lactuca hirsuta Muhl. ex Nutt.

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Lactuca hirsuta, Hairy Lettuce, Downy Lettuce: 

Bayer Code:  not known

US Code:  not known)

·         A Missouri native biennial/summer annual/winter annual that grows 2-6 feet tall with round, smooth to hairy stems, often with purplish stripes or patches and hollow between the nodes

·         Stems usually unbranched until flowering

·         Basal leaves are 5-10 inches long and about ¼ to 1/3 as wide, with deep lobes; lobes moderately toothed, margins sometimes with fine hairs; terminal leaf lobe slender

·         Leaves often slightly hairy on both sides, with fine hairs long underside of along midvein

·         Upper stem leaves become increasingly smaller and more narrow

·         Inflorescence often a large, open terminal panicle-like inflorescence but sometimes more like a compressed panicle or raceme; inflorescence has 25-100 heads; individual heads are about ¼ diameter with 15-20 florets each; ray flowers are yellow to orangish, sometimes fading to bluish color with age

·         Involucre of bracts surrounding florets is urn-shaped, 13-20 mm long at start of flowering, lengthening to 15-22 mm long by fruiting

·         Flowers July-August

·         Fruit is small, oval, ridged achene, 3-5 mm long; numerous white hairs (pappus) 7-12 mm long are attached to a slender stalk at one end of the seed; stalk length is equal to or somewhat shorter than main fruit body

·         Has tan to light orange milky sap

·         Very similar to Lactuca canadensis, except L. hirsuta tends to have more hairs on leaves, and bract cluster (involucre) below individual heads is larger 13-20 mm at flowering/15-22 mm at maturity, compared to 8-10 mm long at flowering/10-14 mm long at maturity for L. canadensis

·         Native to Missouri, found in open woods, savannas, around ponds and along roadsides