Indian lettuce

Lactuca indica, the Indian lettuce, is a tall annual or biennial herb in the daisy family (Asteraceae), native to eastern and southeastern Asia from India and the Himalayas across China, Korea, and Japan to the Philippines and Indonesia. Plants produce an erect, glabrous, often glaucous stem 0.6-2 meters tall, exuding white latex when cut. The leaves are alternate, highly variable in shape: the lower ones lanceolate to elliptic and 10-30 cm long, often pinnately lobed with backward-pointing segments, while upper leaves become narrower and entire; bases are sessile and somewhat clasping. Inflorescences are loose terminal panicles of small heads; each capitulum is 1-2 cm across, bearing only ligulate florets that are pale yellow, occasionally drying bluish. The involucre is cylindrical with imbricate bracts. Fruits are small flattened black achenes 4-5 mm long with a beak shorter than the body and a soft white pappus. The species occupies forest margins, grasslands, roadsides, and cultivated fields, and is grown as a leafy vegetable in parts of East and Southeast Asia.