- This article is about the plant. For the Tokyo Mew Mew character, see Lettuce Midorikawa.
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Lettuce and chicory output in 2005
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The Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. Botanically an annual plant is a Plant that usually germinates, Flowers and dies in one Year. A biennial plant is a flowering Plant that takes two years to complete its lifecycle. The family Asteraceae or Compositae (known as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family) is the largest family of Flowering It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, greens, or leafy greens, are plant leaves eaten as a Vegetable, sometimes accompanied In many countries, it is typically eaten cold and raw, in salads, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes. Salad is a mixture of cold foods usually including vegetables and/or fruits often with a dressing occasionally nuts or Croutons, and sometimes with the addition of A hamburger (or burger) is a Sandwich consisting of a cooked ground Meat Patty, usually Beef, placed in a sliced bun or between A taco ( is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a Maize or wheat Tortilla folded or rolled around a filling In some places, including China, lettuce is typically eaten cooked and use of the stem is as important as use of the leaf. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Both the English name and the Latin name of the genus are ultimately derived from lac, the Latin word for “milk”,[2] referring to the plant’s milky juice. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the Mammary glands of female Mammals (including Monotremes. Mild in flavour, it has been described over the centuries as a cooling counterbalance to other ingredients in a salad. [3]
The lettuce plant has a short stem initially (a rosette growth habit), but when it blooms the stem lengthens and branches, and it produces many flower heads that look like those of dandelions, but smaller. In botany a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves with all the leaves at a single height This is called bolting. When grown to eat, lettuce is harvested before it bolts. Lettuce is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera. A larva ( Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of Animal with indirect development, undergoing Metamorphosis (for example Lepidoptera is an order of Insect that includes Moths and butterflies.
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Cultivars
There are six commonly recognised Cultivar Groups of lettuce which are ordered here by head formation and leaf structure; there are hundreds of cultivars of lettuce selected for leaf shape and colour, as well as extended field and shelf life, within each of these Cultivar Groups:
- Butterhead, also called Boston or Bibb, forms loose heads; it has a buttery texture. Under the Botanical nomenclature of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP a cultivar group is any gathering of Cultivars A cultivar is a cultivated Plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics it is usually distinct from similar Mouthfeel is a product’s physical and Chemical interaction in the mouth Butterhead cultivars are most popular in Europe.
- Chinese lettuce types generally have long, sword-shaped, non-head-forming leaves, with a bitter and robust flavour unlike Western types, appropriate for use in stir-fried dishes and stews. Stir frying is an Umbrella term used to describe two fast Chinese cooking techniques chǎo ( 炒) and bào ( 爆) A stew is a combination of Solid Food Ingredients that have been Cooked in Water or other water-based liquid typically by Simmering Chinese lettuce cultivars are divided into “stem-use” types (called celtuce in English), and “leaf-use” types such as youmaicai (Chinese: 油麦菜; pinyin: yóumàicài) or shengcai (生菜). Celtuce ( Lactuca sativa var asparagina, augustana, or angustata) also called stem lettuce, celery lettuce, asparagus Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use
- Crisphead, also called Iceberg, which form tight, dense heads that resemble cabbage. The cabbage ( Brassica oleracea var capitata) is a leafy garden plant of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae used as a They are generally the mildest of the lettuces, valued more for their crunchy texture than for flavour. Mouthfeel is a product’s physical and Chemical interaction in the mouth Cultivars of iceberg lettuce are the most familiar lettuces in the USA. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The name Iceberg comes from the way the lettuce was transported in the US starting in the 1920s on train-wagons covered in crushed ice, making them look like icebergs.
- Looseleaf, with tender, delicate, and mildly flavoured leaves. This group comprises oak leaf and lollo rosso lettuces.
- Romaine, also called Cos, is a head-forming type with elongated leaves. Romaine or cos lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L var longifolia) is a variety of Lettuce which grows in a long head of sturdy leaves with a firm rib
- Summer Crisp, also called Batavian, which form moderately dense heads with a crunchy texture; this type is intermediate between iceberg and looseleaf types.
Some lettuces (especially iceberg) have been specifically bred to remove the bitterness from their leaves. These lettuces have a high water content with very little nutrient value. The more bitter lettuces and the ones with pigmented leaves contain antioxidants. An antioxidant is a Molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules
 Some lettuce cultivars |
 Chemical compunds which occur in lettuce: |
 More lettuce cultivars |
Breeding
L. sativa can easily be bred with closely related species in Lactuca such as L. serriola, L. saligna, and L. virosa, and breeding programs for cultivated lettuce have included those species to broaden the available gene pool. Lactuca, commonly known as Lettuce, is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae. Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola is an annual or Biennial plant that is commonly considered a Weed of Orchards roadsides and Lactuca saligna is a species of wild lettuce known by the common name willowleaf lettuce. Lactuca virosa is a legal Ethnobotanical in the United States In Population genetics, a gene pool is the complete set of unique Alleles in a Species or Population. Starting in the 1990s, breeding programs began to include more distantly related species such as L. tatarica. [4]
Facts and figures
- Lactucarium (or “Lettuce Opium”) is a mild opiate-like substance that is contained in all types of lettuce. Lactucarium is the milky fluid secreted by several species of Lettuce, especially Lactuca virosa, usually from the base of the stems For other uses see Opiate (disambiguation, or for the class of drugs see Opioid. Both the Romans and Egyptians took advantage of this property eating lettuce at the end of a meal to induce sleep. [5]
- Lettuce is a fat free, low calorie and saturated fat free food. This article is about the unit of energy For its use in Nutrition and Food labelling regulations, see the article on Food energy. It is a valuable source of vitamin A and folic acid
- The largest lettuce head weighed 11 kg (25 lb), of the Salad Bowl cultivar, grown by Colin Bowcock of Willaston, England, in 1974. Vitamin A refers to a family of similarly shaped molecules the Retinoids. Folic acid (also known as Vitamin M and Folacin) and Folate (the Anionic form are forms of the water-soluble Vitamin B9 The pound or pound-mass (abbreviation lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States #) is a unit of Mass England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar.
- In the United States, 95% of all head lettuce is grown in California and Arizona. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States.
- The Yazidi consider eating lettuce taboo. The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Kurdish: ئزیدی or Êzidî, Arabic: يزيدي or ايزدي Assyrian/Syriac: ܓ̰ܠܟܝܐ is a Taboo food and drinks are food and drink which people abstain from consuming for religious or cultural reasons
History
The lettuce that we see today actually started out as a weed around the Mediterranean basin. Served in dishes for more than 4500 years, lettuce has certainly made its mark in history- as seen from tomb paintings in Egypt to the depiction of many different varieties in ancient Greek relics. Christopher Columbus introduced lettuce to the new world. [6]
Notes
- ^ Molly Damon, Nancy Z. Zhang, David B. Haytowitz, Sarah L. Booth (2005). "Phylloquinone (vitamin K1) content of vegetables". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 18: 751–758. Elsevier. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
- ^ Simpson, D. P. (1979). Cassell's Latin Dictionary, 5, London: Cassell Ltd. , 883. ISBN 0-304-52257-0.
- ^ Grigson, Jane (1978). Jane Grigson (née McIntire) (March 13 1928 - March 12 1990 was a British cookery writer The Vegetable Book. London: Penguin, p. 312-14. ISBN 0-14-046-352-6.
- ^ Wim J. M. Koopman, Eli Guetta, Clemens C. M. van de Wiel, Ben Vosman and Ronald G. van den Berg (1998). Phylogenetic relationships among Lactuca (Asteraceae) species and related genera based on ITS-1 DNA sequences 1517–1530.
- ^ "Lettuce - Lactuca sativa - Daisy family". Hamilton, Dave (2005).
- ^ Lettuce:Food Facts & Trivia. Retrieved on 2007-11-02. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1570 - A Tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1000
References
- "Iceberg and Leaf Lettuce", University of California
Dictionary
lettuce
-noun
- An edible plant, Lactuca sativa, having a head of green and/or purple leaves.
- (uncountable) The leaves of the lettuce plant, eaten as a vegetable.
- (uncountable, US, slang): Folding money, also called cabbage, due to the green color of both US currency and the vegetables.
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