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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sunflowers are found around the
globe in many different places, from temperate climates, like in Saskatchewan,
to mountains or in dry regions. The sunflower family is very large and contains
about 19,000 species! As you can imagine, the plants in this family can
look very different from one another. The sunflowers can be shrubs or herbs,
with many different leaf shapes and flower colours. One thing that is common
to all sunflowers is the type of flower arrangement. In this family, there
are many flowers grouped together into a head, like the one you see on a
daisy. It looks like one flower from a distance, but when you get close
you will see that it is actually made up of many, small flowers. The head
may have ray flowers on the outside and disc flowers on the inside, or only
one of the two kinds. Many of the seeds, like the dandelion, have a fluffy
structure attached to the seed. This is called the pappus and helps the
seeds to spread in the wind. You probably know a lot of plants in the sunflower family. Sunflowers can be plants you eat or plants that you may grow in the yard. For example, did you know that lettuce is from the sunflower family? So are the marigolds in the garden! Maybe you have heard of Echinacea? It is a plant in the sunflower family that is used to make medicine. Some of the sunflowers are also weeds, like the dandelion. |
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| COMMON NAME | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Lactuca ludoviciana | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Wild lettuce is 1 to 2 m tall with a big, strong taproot. The latex in the stem is brown. The upper leaves are arranged alternately and have ear-like lobes that clasp the stem. The leaves in the middle have winged stalks that attach to the stems. The lower leaves do not have leaf stalks and the margins are toothed or lobed. Between 50 and 100 heads are arranged in a branched cluster. Each head has 20 to 30 blue, blue with yellow, or yellow ray flowers. The anthers are white. The bracts on the heads do not have black tips. The fruits have one noticeable rib, are dark brown, and have a white pappus. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Wild lettuce grows in low shrublands in river valleys. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is only found in southeast Saskatchewan in the Antler River Valley in the Aspen Parkland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Wild lettuce is endangered in Saskatchewan because populations are small and extremely rare. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY WILD LETTUCE | |||||||||
| * Is the plant between 1 and 2 m tall? * Are the ray flowers blue, blue with yellow, or yellow? * Is the pappus white? * Are the fruits flat, with one strong nerve? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found wild lettuce! | |||||||||
