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

Many grasslands have a stand of dandelions; sow thistle, wild lettuce, and ragweed were also common in some grasslands.

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

From table 1 it may be seen that quackgrass, alfalfa, wild lettuce, and cleavers were common.

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

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.

Back in the meadows where thistles and wild lettuce are going to seed, the hard-bills spend their holidays.

From Sigurd Our Golden Collie and Other Comrades of the Road by Bates, Katharine Lee