Wild Lettuce Leaf
Species Name: Lactuca virosa
Also Known As: Wild lettuce, Bitter lettuce, Opium Lettuce, prickly lettuce, Acrid Lettuce, German Lactucarium, Green Endive, Lactuca virosa, Lactucarium, Laitue Sauvage, Lechuga Silvestre, Lettuce Opium, Poison Lettuce, and Strong-Scented Lettuce.
A woodland member of the sunflower family, Wild lettuce is not a vegetable.
It is a biannual plant similar to Prickly lettuce Lactuca serriola, but taller. The plant can grow to a height of over six feet.
It is known as a compass plant, because the leaves will change direction to follow the sun.
Wild lettuce is often ingested or smoked for its mild psychotropic effects, described as being similar to opium. Unlike opium, Wild Lettuce does not contain any opiates.
In the United States the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rates the plant as un-scheduled, which means it is legal to grow, purchase, or own without having a prescription or license.
What is Wild Lettuce Leaf? Wild Lettuce leaf is the dried leaf of the plant. It is used in capsules, teas, tinctures, bulk powder, and fresh greens are sometimes added to salads.
The dried latex or milk of the Wild Lettuce is used to make a product called lactucarium, or lettuce opium.
Home Remedies Using Wild Lettuce Leaf:
Benefits of Wild Lettuce Leaf:
Historical uses of Wild Lettuce Leaf include its use as a food crop by the Ancient Greeks, Romans and Chinese.
The Hopi tribe in North America used it in religious rituals, smoking Wild Lettuce Leaf resin to induce dream states. In the 19th century Wild Lettuce Leaf was used to make a substitute for opium.
Wild Lettuce Leaf is contains vitamin A, lactucopicrin, lactucin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, coumarins, and mannitol. The fresh leaf (not the dried herb) contains hyosycamine, a chemical also found in henbane.
Today, Wild Lettuce Leaf is commonly used today to induce sleep, as a mild sedative, and diuretic. It has been utilized to treat colic and insomnia, whooping cough, and a nervous and dry irritating cough.
Wild Lettuce Leaf is a treatment for arthritic pain, to encourage perspiration, and to reduce the feeling of restlessness and excitability.
Wild Lettuce leaf is also used to treat gas pains, uterine cramps, and muscle pain. In lotions the supplement treats chapped skin.
Lettuce opium, which is made from wild lettuce leaves, is used as a sedative, can induce sleep, and will calm anxiety and restlessness.
Side Effects of Wild Lettuce Leaf:
Common side effects of Wild Lettuce Leaf include its ability to cause drowsiness. Taken in excess or many times the recommended dosage, Wild Lettuce Leaf can cause restlessness, slow breathing, severe tiredness, passing out, loss of consciousness, or skin rash.
