Garden Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

Lactuca sativa, commonly called garden lettuce, is an annual plant of the daisy family Asteraceae grown chiefly as a leaf vegetable, its leaves most often eaten raw in salads but also used in sandwiches, wraps, soups and grilled dishes, with some varieties cultivated instead for their stems or seeds. Ancient Egyptians transformed the plant from a seed-oil crop into an important food source by around 2680 BC, and the Romans later named it lactuca, after the milky latex released from its cut stem, the root of its modern English name; Christopher Columbus carried it to the Americas in the late fifteenth century. Global production reached twenty eight million tonnes in 2023, with China alone responsible for fifty three percent of the total. Though nutritionally modest, with iceberg varieties about ninety six percent water, lettuce has occasionally served as a vector for foodborne pathogens including E. coli and Salmonella.