This is a medicinal lettuce species, while technically edible, I wouldn’t grow this one as food, I would only recommend this one if you intend to harvest the plants before seed set for making herbal medicine.

I first heard about “Wild Lettuce” from a friend who used a tincture of this plant to help quell anxiety, this seemed like a useful thing so I kept a eye out for them. About a year later a unknown plant popped up by the side of the driveway and after a little research I was able to identify them as Wild Lettuce, since there was only one plant I let them go to seed… and now they are all over the place. After consulting with a couple herb nerd fiends I decided to make a triple tincture from the leaves and stems. This means grinding up the plant material in alcohol, allowing it to sit and extract for a couple weeks, straining our the pulp, adding more fresh plant material, waiting again, straining again, adding again etc. I have found this medicine to be useful for anxiety and sleeplessness but your mileage may vary. I have also shared the tincture with people with mild to moderate pain and they reported generally good effects. It is 100% possible to overdue it and feel some hangover like effects if you take too much, others have reported feeling sedated if they took too much tincture. So do a little research before ingesting and use in moderation. This and other species of wild Lettuce are sometimes called Opium Lettuce for their sedating effects, I have heard the opium like effects are more pronounced when the latex sap is collected, dried and smoked. I haven’t tried this, but if you do, I would love to hear about the results.

Growing this plant is very easy, just sow seeds in spring and very lightly cover with soil. Direct sowing or transplanting are both fine. In rich soil and sunny position the plants get huge and and full of the medicinal latex sap, but they will easily grow is weak soil and/or part shade. To avoid weedyness, harvest plants before they set their first viable seeds, or carefully collect the seed heads for future plantings. Plants will rapidly regrow after harvest so keep a eye on them. Seed packet contains 1/5 tsp, ~240 seeds.