Our Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa) seeds have germinated ......

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I've been researching this wild lettuce and its medicinal properties. I think I will give up gardening and grow this stuff just for the seeds. $7.79 for 50 seeds online. I bet conservatively that I have destroyed at least 100K in the past 5 years just in my vegetable garden alone and still have hundreds of them scattered about.
There are 2 varieties of wild lettuce and they are interchangeable as far a medicinal properties are concerned. There is Lactuca Virosa which is supposedly the best and Lactuca Serriola of which is shown in the pictures on this thread. I happen to have both in large numbers. So this year instead of killing them I am going to harvest the seeds.

The following link should be of interest to many
 
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Entrepreneur aye @Chuck ..... please don't forget who gave you this fantastic idea. Will you need a secretary?
50405
 
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Entrepreneur aye @Chuck ..... please don't forget who gave you this fantastic idea. Will you need a secretary? View attachment 50405
Well, you know how it is. Some folks have the Midas Touch and some don't. I happen to have the Midas touch in reverse. Instead of gold my touch turns into crap. Did more research and discovered that there are many many more sites that sell the seeds for $1.99 instead of $7.79. I am rethinking my entrepreneurial thoughts of lovely private secretaries into more realistic but disheartening reality of me licking my own stamps. I am starting to believe it will be less expensive to just keep on trying to kill the blasted stuff than to spread the plague around the world. But I already miss my secretary. We had fun while it lasted.:angelic:
 
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Two years ago, I found myself in the same situation regarding seeds of interesting trees of my zone. Alas, nobody actually buys the expensive seeds, -that's why their still online, unsold hangers-on. Seeds that have turn-over are peddled by our Oriental friends for peanuts, and the others have little market. As they say, "Rots a ruck, Round-eye..."
 
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Know what ya mean. .... I'm guilty of spreading Carex pendula all over our village - they don't all know it is my fault. I have no intention of enlightening them, but really wouldn't want to flog it to anyone. As for the misfortune with your secretary past - does the Mrs know?
, "Rots a ruck, Round-eye..." What does that mean in English @treeguy ?
 
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View attachment 50406Know what ya mean. .... I'm guilty of spreading Carex pendula all over our village - they don't all know it is my fault. I have no intention of enlightening them, but really wouldn't want to flog it to anyone. As for the misfortune with your secretary past - does the Mrs know?
, "Rots a ruck, Round-eye..." What does that mean in English @treeguy ?
Alas, the Missus has her flowers and is in charge of them. I have the vegetable and weeds and "nair the twain shall meet". I try to keep everything separate, especially secretaries and missus's
 
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"Rot's a ruck..." is an American idiom imitation of a Japanese saying, "Lot's of luck". They have no "L" sound in Japanese and pronounce "L" words like an "R". In the WWII era of Charlie Chan and uplifting/propaganda war movies made in Hollywood, the last scene of one movie has a Japanese officer who has been captured, is read the riot act by Our Hero, "And America, the bastion of freedom, blah, blah... will defeat Imperial Japan, blah, blah..." to which the officer responds with disdain in a heavy accent, "Lot's of Luck".

I can't remember the actors or movie involved, but it was re-run on TV in the 50's many, many times, and was the standard caricature of the bad guy, spit-in-your-eye, no regret, you-can't-break-my-spirit line that we kids would use if we were playing cowboys and Indians, or cops and robbers, or war, or tag, or kick-the-can.
 
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"There is Lactuca Virosa which is supposedly the best and Lactuca Serriola of which is shown in the pictures on this thread."...........Chuck

It NEVER ceases to amaze me how "spot on" Chuck is. True enough.....2 kinds, both "potent", and look entirely different. In fact, just a few days ago my bride squatted down beside a plant and asked me, "Is this wild lettuce ?", and I said, "No, that's not".........but guess what......It was Lactuca VIROSA....... soooooooo, NOW (thanks to Chuck) my knowledge is, once again, expanded......

Lactuca Virosa.........PLENTY of Lactuca Serriola pics (for comparison) on this thread
50485
 

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