This is the sister of the lettuce that you buy." Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa) is also known as 'lettuce opium'. Wild lettuce is used for whooping cough, asthma, urinary tract problems, cough, trouble sleeping (insomnia), … Lactuca virosa AND Lactuca serriola have edible leaves. This is the sister of the lettuce that you buy." The stem is stiff, erect, smooth and round; the leaves are green to bluish green, alternate, dentate, 45cm long and oblong to lanceolate; the flowers are yellow, occurring in open panicles. painkilling, but won't get you addicted), it is an ethnobotanical. I have a section for harvesting lactucarium and the other section is to harvest leaves. Lactuca virosa. It is most commonly smoked or filtered into a tea. The erect stem, springing from a brown tap-root, is smooth and pale green, sometimes spotted with purple. Wild Lettuce is a plant in the Lactuca genus in the family Asteraceae (or Compositae), also known as Lactuca silvestris or Wiestia virosa Origin: Europe, comes from the Mediterranean uplands. It’s a leafy and tall plant, with small yellow buds, and could be grown right out your door. Commonly known as Wild Lettuce, Lactuca virosa, also sometimes identified as opium lettuce, is believed to have been used for its psychoactive properties by ancient Egyptians based on its depiction in hieroglyphics. It is related to common lettuce (), and is often called wild lettuce, bitter lettuce, laitue vireuse, opium lettuce, poisonous lettuce, tall lettuce, great lettuce or rakutu-karyumu-so. Wild lettuce is native to Eurasia, but has naturalized throughout most of North America, and also Hawaii. Lactuca Virosa is the scientific term for it, and many people have used it in place of addictive prescription pain medicine. Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa) is a tall, leafy plant with small bright yellow flowers.It looks similar to prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola), with a few differences.The leaves and stems are less spiny, and grow closer together. Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa) is a tall, leafy plant with small bright yellow flowers.It looks similar to prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola), with a few differences.The leaves and stems are less spiny, and grow closer together. Some doctors' manuals from the 19th century do list Lactuca virosa as a pain reliever, but there's little evidence that it works. It starts as a low rosette at first, but extends with age, typically measuring up to four feet in height. I have both growing wild in my backyard. Unfortunately they get poisoned all the time. I have a section for harvesting lactucarium and the other section is to harvest leaves. By 1898, Lactuca virosa was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia and in 1911, in the British Pharmaceutical Codex (5,6). A member of the lettuce family, wild lettuce grows wild in North America and England. Wild Lettuce (scientific name Lactuca virosa) is a tall, leafy plant with small bright yellow flowers.It looks similar to prickly lettuce (scientific name Lactuca serriola), with a few differences. The leaves and stems are less spiny, and grow closer together. A member of the lettuce family, wild lettuce grows wild in North America and England. Once the seedlings … This herb thrives in sunny locations, such as along riverbanks and roadsides, and can grow up to six feet (1.8 meters) in height. In one of the only studies of Lactuca virosa for pain, researchers fed mice high doses of a few specific chemicals that the plant produces, then put the mice on hot plates. It is a wild relative of lactuca sativa, which contains the group of cultivars that are commonly used in salads. Wild lettuce (also known as Lactuca Virosa) is a plant where the leaves, sap, and seed are used to make medicine.This medicinal lettuce has been widely used since ancient Greece. In 430 BC (2447 years ago) Hippocrates, known as the Father of Modern Medicine, wrote about the pain-relieving effects of the plant’s milky sap.By the 1800s, it had reached America. Wild opium (also called wild opium lettuce, opium lettuce, wild lettuce, bitter lettuce, L. Virosa) is not an opium or an opiate (but has similar effects i.e. It is a very viable survival food. Wild lettuce lost favor among the medical community in the US in the 1940s, but by the 1970s, it regained popularity among the “hippies” as a legal psychotropic, sometimes mixed with catnip or damiana.