Lettuce

Lettuce is a temperate annual plant most often grown as a leaf vegetable. In Western countries, it is typically eaten cold and raw, in salads, hamburgers, tacos, and several other dishes. In some places, including China, lettuce is typically eaten cooked, and use of the stem is as important as use of the leaf.

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A lettuce plant has a short stem initially (a rosette growth habit), but when it blooms, the stem lengthens and branches, and it produces many flower heads that look like those of dandelions, but smaller. This is called bolting. When grown to eat, lettuce is harvested before it bolts.

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Lettuce is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera including Garden Dart, Heart and Club and Autumnal Rustic.

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Annual plant: An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers and dies in one year....

Leaf vegetable: Leaf vegetables, also called greens or leafy greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Although they come from a very wide variety of plants, most share a great deal with other leaf vegetables in nutrition and cooking methods....

Salad: A salad is a food item generally served either before or after the main dish as a separate course, as a main course in itself, or as a side dish accompanying the main dish. The word "salad" comes from the French salade of the same meaning, from the Latin salata, "salty", from sal, "salt". (See also ...

Lettuce related Images and Photos (experimental)

Lettuce and Buttermilk

Lettuce Field at Sunset Fresno San Joaquin Valley California USA

Hippopotamus Surrounded by Water Lettuce Kruger National Park South Africa