N. O. COMPOSITE. 723 



An annual or biennial, glabrous or nearly so, tall, erect, very 

 leafy. Stems erect, 2-5ft., branched, usually prickly towards the 

 base. Leaves sessile, 5-7in., pinnatifid, segments toothed, point- 

 ing downwards ; lower surfaces usually prickly on the midrib 

 and nerves ; stem-leaves lobed at the base. Heads Jin. long, 

 erect ; flowers yellow. Achenes brown ; beak very slender, 

 about as long as the body (Collett). 



" Inflorescence," says J. D. Hooker, "variable, sometimes 12in. 

 diam. ; with incurved, ascending corymbose branches, at others 

 laxly paniculate. Branches and peduncles. White, with many 

 appressed, green, cordate bracts. Involucre-bracts ovate, inner 

 linear ; ligules yellow or dull-reddish outside. Achenes iin., 

 including the very slender beak, ribbed, pale ; pappus £in. 



Use : — In the wild state the seeds produce to a certain extent 

 narcotic and sedative effects, but these appear to be almost 

 entirely removed by cultivation (Dymock). 



From the sap may be prepared a resinous dry juice, known 

 commercially as Lactucarium. The common Lettuce yields 

 only about 18 grains for each plant, but the scented and wild 

 English Lettuce, Lactuca virosa, Linn., yields 56 grains. This 

 juice is prepared just as the plant begins to flower. Dr. 

 Duncan, nearly a century ago, showed that the juice might 

 be used as a substitute for opium, having most of the proper- 

 ties of that drug without its binding effects. Smith, in his 

 Dictionary of Eeonomie Plants, mentions an instance, in July 

 1879, where a man died from the effects of the narcotic, through 

 eating lettuce. Thus, it would seem that the strength of the 

 narcotic varies considerably, and that the drug is not certain. 

 Its action is not so reliable as opium, but it may be used as a 

 mild hypnotic. Dose 2 to 10 grains of the dry juice. The 

 officinal preparation is the Extract prepared from the fresh 

 plant ; a mild sedative, anodyne, purgative, diuretic, diaphore- 

 tic, and antispasmodic, said to be useful in the treatment of 

 the coughs in phhisis, bronchitis, asthma and pertussis. It 

 has also been recommended for rheumatism and insanity with 

 doubtful results. In native medical practice, a decoction of the 

 seeds is used as a demulcent. Dose 3ii to 3ss. (Watt). 



