| Plant |
Height 35-150 cm, tough taproot |
| Stem |
Erect, ivory-coloured, glabrous, slender, branched only in the upper part. Branches simple, spreading-erect |
| Stem leaves |
Hispidulous-pilose or nearly glabrous. Lower leaves oblong, 6-15 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, runcinate, dentate at lateral lobes. Terminal lobe deltoid or oblong, acute. Lateral lobes at least 8, oblong or linear. Middle and upper leaves auriculate with long-decurrent auricles adnate to the stem, apically increasingly smaller or reduced to scales |
| Inflorescence |
Paniculiform. Peduncle very short or absent |
| Heads |
c. 5 flowers. Involucre at flowering narrowly cylindrical, 8.5-21.0 mm long, 2.0-2.5 mm in diameter. Outer involucral bracts ovate, 3-4 mm long, 1.0-1.5 mm wide, apically tinged purple, margin minutely ciliate. Inner involucral bracts linear, up to 12 mm long, 1.5 mm wide. Flowers opening at midday. Corolla ligulate, yellow and tinged red externally, glabrous. Tube c. 7 mm long. Ligule 9-10 mm long, 2.5-3.0 mm wide. Anthertube yellow, 4.0-4.5 mm long. Apical appendages obtuse. Style c. 15 mm long. Branches c. 1.5 mm long |
| Achenes |
Strongly compressed, 9.5-15.0 mm long, 1.3 mm wide, scabridulous, blackish, with 14 ribs, attenuate into an ill-defined beak, ending in a distinct apical disk. Beak 4.5-6.0 mm long, about as long as the corpus, of the same colour as the corpus. Pappus white, 4.5-10.5 mm long, fragile, minutely scabrid |
| Reference |
Cichorieae Portal - based on Jeffrey C. (1975) Lactuca L. In: Davis P.H. et al. (eds) Flora of Turkey 5. Edinburgh); Feráková V. (1977) The Genus Lactuca in Europe. Bratislava; Meikle R.D. (1985) Flora auf Cyprus 2. Kew |
