wild lettuce

American  

noun

1. any of various uncultivated species of lettuce, growing as weeds in fields and waste places, especially a North American species, Lactuca canadensis.

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wild lettuce British  

noun

1. any of several uncultivated lettuce plants, such as Lactuca serriola (or L. scariola ) of Eurasia and L. canadensis ( horseweed ) of North America, which grow as weeds and have yellow or blue flowers, milky juice in the stem, and prickly leaves: family Asteraceae (composites)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wild lettuce

Grasses and wild lettuce were next to alfalfa in importance.

From Natural History of the Prairie Vole (Mammalian Genus Microtus) [KU. Vol. 1 No. 7] by Jameson, E. W.

He loves the hills which are half covered with young pines, viburnums, cornels, and huckleberry-bushes, and feeds upon the seeds of grasses and wild lettuce, with occasional repasts of insects and berries.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, No. 14, December 1858 by Various

Us jus' go in de woods and git wild lettuce and mustard and leather-britches and polk salad and watercress, all us want to eat.

From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4 by United States. Work Projects Administration

The wild lettuce yields down for the hummingbird's nest, and the flowers of whiteweed are used by the kingbird and cedar-bird.

From The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton by Burroughs, John

There is a wild lettuce from which the cultivated probably came.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy