Lactuca serriola

Prickly lettuce

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Prickly lettuce is a naturalized annual found throughout California in disturbed places at elevations below 2,700 meters. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces pale yellow flowers in small heads 4 to 6 millimeters wide, arranged in open, spreading panicle-like clusters. Growing with tall, erect stems 0.5 to 3 meters high that are notably prickly-bristly, it develops quickly in disturbed environments. Its leaves are oblanceolate to oblong-elliptic, with prickly-bristly margins and bases that clasp the stem, often unlobed or with coarse lobes. The fruit is light to dark brown, 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters long with a thread-like beak and distinctive ribbed surfaces.

Habitat: Abundant. Disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: < 2700 m

Bioregions: CA

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.