Prickly Lettuce - introduced (*Lactuca serriola)

Other names: Compass Plant, Milk Thistle.

Family: Asteraceae (Daisy family).

Native of Europe.

Occurrence: A widespread and common weed of urban areas, roadsides, nature strips, degraded pasture etc. It is also an environmental weed.

Identification:

• it has pale yellow dandelion-like flowers in late summer
• it is an erect plant growing to a metre or more high
• the leaves are often held in vertically, rather than horizontally
• the lower leaves are lobed and often point in a north-south direction
• the stems and leaves are prickly.

It is sometimes called Compass Plant because the leaves often point in a north-south direction.

Prickly Lettuce is closely related to the garden lettuce (Lacuta savita). The main difference is the absence of prickles of garden lettuce. Its leaf shape is variable, depending on the cultivar.

Photo 1: Flowers and buds.
2: Some variation in leaf shape on the one plant. The leaves are prickly.
3,4,5: Prickly Lettuce. All from Castlemaine streets.