Article

Lactuca viminea (L.) J. Presl & C. Presl subsp. viminea

Nomenclature
The Plant List Lactuca viminea (L.) J. Presl & C. Presl
GRIN Taxonomy Lactuca viminea (L.) J. Presl & C. Presl subsp. viminea
Cichorieae Portal Lactuca viminea (L.) J. Presl & C. Presl subsp. viminea
Tropicos Lactuca viminea (L.) J. Presl & C. Presl subsp. viminea


Native distribution
Europe Albania; Austria; Bosnia & Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Italy; Macedonia; Moldova; Montenegro; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine
Asia Armenia; Azerbaijan; Cyprus; Georgia; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Lebanon; Russian Federation; Syria; Turkey; Turkmenistan
Africa Algeria; Morocco; Tunisia


Key features
Lettuce gene pool Tertiary relative
Chromosome number 2n = 18
Habitat Dry, rocky slopes
Life history Biennial
Breeding system Allogamous
Flower colour Yellow
EURISCO (Dec. 2017) 24 accessions


Morphological description
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