Lactuca serriola L.
Family: COMPOSITAE (ASTERACEAE)
Genus: Lactuca
Catalan common name: Enciam bord.
Province distribution: Balearic Islands.
Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca.
IUCN Category: Least concern
Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte. Terophyte.
Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Disturbed zones.
Characteristics: An annual cycle herbaceous plant, but very robust, can reach up to a metre and a half in height, and can be frequently found along paths and roadsides and flowers more or less during the summer. Can be recognized by its rigid leaves with deeply lobed margins, this margin as well as the midvein is covered with small, spiny leaf emergences on the reverse (abaxial) side or the leaf. Leaves area re twisted at the base, forming a N-S. Orientation. The capitula are small with yellow flowers, forming a very wide inflorescence at the top of the stem, although generally few capitula can be found in the open. Lactuca virosa also has yellow flowers, but these are neither lobed nor turned sideways at the base.