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What is Wild Lettuce?
Wild Lettuce commonly refers to the more bitter cousins of common garden lettuce. This group of plants is used in everything from sleep tonics to soap to teas.
The three main species of this group are Lactuca Virosa, Lactuca Canadennis, and Lactuca Serriola.
They have been used in herbal medicine throughout history mainly as a sleep aid. You may have noticed in your local supermarket that lettuce comes in many different varieties. Just click on the link to http://www.botany.com/lactuca.html to get a description of some popular breeds. The wild relations are edible but more bitter in taste. Just look at any bag of mixed field greens and you will see many varieties of wild Lettuce. The history of Wild Lettuce can be traced way back to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian god of fertility, Min, is closely tied to the plant and he is often depicted holding a rosette of Lactuca Serriola. A very good article on the Egyptians and the use of Wild Lettuce as an aphrodisiac and sex enhancer can be found here: http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1403295.htm
Wild Lettuce was also used by the Romans and Augustus was said to have raised a statue in honor of the Lettuce infusion that he claimed saved his life. The Roman naturalist Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD - 79 AD) , better known as Pliny the Elder wrote extensively of Lactuca in his work Naturalis Historia: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?lookup=lettuce&collection=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman&group=typecat Lactucarium was produced by pharmaceutical companies until about the 1940's.Many studies of the medicinal qualities of Wild Lettuce have been made. Several chemicals which constitute a mild sedative and cough suppressant can be found in the wild Lactuca species. When a stem or leaf from a Wild Lettuce plant is broken or cut, it will bleed a thick milky sap. The dried sap is often referred to as Lettuce Opium, though it contains no opiates. This sap can be extracted many ways, but the most common is by soaking plant material in alcohol. After several weeks, the plant material is filtered out. This extract is usually called Lactucarium. The usual way of consuming Lactucarium is by dissolving a few drops into tea. Wild Lettuce literature: http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=503306 http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca.html http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca_lactucarium.html |