Lactuca spp. (L. canadensis, L. sativa, & L. virosa)
This plant is related to common lettuce; Lactuca sativa, but as it’s common name suggest is a wild species. Wild lettuce is cultivated in Austria, France, Germany and Scotland and can be collected from the wild across the southern United States where it has become naturalized, and from Northern and Eastern Europe. Opium Lettuce, another common names for Wild Lettuce harkens to the milky latex substance that exudes when the plant is broken, which was prepared as a substitute for Opium in the 1900’s by physicians. A preparation from wild lettuce was described in the United States Dispensatory of 1898. Although the prepared latex resin from the plant is purported to have some of the same properties as opium, the effects are much more mild and it is not chemically related to any of the opiate drugs.
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