''Lactuca tatarica'', known as blue lettuce, is a Eurasian

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the tribe

Cichorieae The Cichorieae (also called Lactuceae) are a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae that includes 93 genera, more than 1,600 sexually reproductive species and more than 7,000 apomictic species. They are found primarily in temperate regions of the E ...

within the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. It is widespread across much of Europe and Asia. ''Lactuca tatarica'' is a herb up to 60 cm (2 feet) tall with a large taproot. Most of the leaves are near the base of the plant and are larger than leaves higher up the stem. Each flower head has about 20 blue or purple (rarely white) ray flowers and no disc flowers. Some authors have placed the North American species '' Lactuca pulchella'' as a subspecies or variety of a broader concept of ''Lactuca tatarica'', while others consider ''L. tatarica'' to occur only in Europe and Asia. ''Lactuca tatarica'' (with ''L. pulchella'' and others) is commonly separated into the genus ''Mulgedium'', as ''Mulgedium tatarica''.

References

tatarica Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cichorieae-stub