As a junior high schooler I read avidly the works of Euell Gibbons. These days as an elder man I read Samuel Thayer's books. I appreciate their emphasis and focus on identification, identification, identification. Watching this video I perceive this same focus. There is no more importent factor than identification. I hope to see a continuing emphasis here.
Great info. I have a lot of Sow Thistle on our property and very few Wild Lettuce so this fall I’m going to harvest seeds and put them in a dedicated spot downwind from the garden. Getting this knowledge out is crucial. The pessimist in me says learn as much about natural healing as you can because…….just because. Liked, subscribed and notified.
That sounds like a solid plan! Happy to have earned your sub, Doug. Thank you for liking the video! I’m currently testing out different method of making the concentrate to try to figure out a balance between simplicity and strength. Will post an update on the channel when completed!
Sow thistle is also edible, and quite tasty. They are less bitter than dandelion. I used to have heaps growing in my yard, but its population has decreased after it was put on the menu.
I grew up in a small poor fishing village (in the middle of nowhere, the nearest Doctor being a 10 mile track) anyhow; as a kid I would go foraging for seaweed, berries, mushrooms, weeds , wild herbs, etc., with my grandmother who would in turn make up her own medicines. She never trained in medicine of any form, everything she knew had been handed down from her mother but the locals would always call to her with their problems and trusted her completely. I wish I had had the foresight to have paid more attention. Edit: just to add you will not find wild lettuce in Ireland.
I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU. THIS HAS BEEN THE UPMOST HELPFUL VIDEO ABOUT WILD LETTUCE FOR ME TO DATE. YOU ANSWERED SOME OF MY QUESTIONS AND EASED MY MIND. THANK YOU. GOING TO WATCH YOUR OTHER ONES NOW.
This is such a great video, as is your follow up on preparing the medicine. I plan to try the prep myself as soon as I accumulate enough plant material. I only know of one location in my area (NorCal) where lactuca grows, hoping to find more now that I have a better idea of the habitat and ID. Your website and channel are fantastic thank you so much!
Your channel just came up in my Recommendations. Yours is the best site I have found clear describing how to ID wild lettuce from other plants. Just subbed. Thanks!
One of your dandelion pics looks suspiciously like common chicory (Cichorium intybus) to me. It's sometimes called Italian dandelion, especially when grown intentionally as a green, but is in a different genus from the Taraxacum. Before flowering they are easy to confuse though.
Careful whenever wild foraging. Check your local soil, water and air reports for potential contaminants for the region you are foraging in. Make your own observations for how those lands are treated by locals as well.
In my countree Moldova we call it letuce of pigs we was collecting from garden for pig. The taste is exactly alike regular letuce ,slightly more bitter. Extremly nutritious
It's in the works! Likely won't be done this year as my season is running out and I'm still experimenting to be able to bring everyone the best method possible and all the variables. In the meantime, I posted a video on a good method via this article - feralforaging.com/how-to-identify-wild-lettuce
Here in England there looks to be a few different kinds, but thanks for pointing out that if I want to find wild opium I need to find the plant that has needles.
I'm so glad to see a young person learn about plant characteristics. I'm interested in plant & fungi. I'd like to have successful veggie, herbs & fruit garden & trees, etc. Oh, I meant to say I'm glad to know that you're sharing your knowledge with others, & we need more, like you.
The Wild Lettuce I have seen ard 6 feet in height. I, yet will identify properly. It is with purple flowers and stem has red in the main stock. Must ✔✅ to see the underlying leaf for the hairs, sure to give me the right identification for wild Lettuce. In late July most plants are starting to fully develop. Not sure if I'll use it for reasonable ideas. I'll look for the lambs quarters wild eatable plants and Yarrow for sure. Happy gathering wild eatable plants !
I was thinking about processing some plants in my yard I thought were wild lettuce but after watching this I've identified them as a look alike. Oops! Thank you!
Thanlyou..this is exactly what I was looking for ; this info..( but the actual plant also 😅).. been having difficulty discerning which is the right one with so many similar looking ones about.
This is Handy Knowledge To Have and it's Very Helpful.Not Everyone Would Be Aware, But This Young Man Explains it Well Even in His Visual Demonstrations. "Thank-You"
Just an observation on the more vibrant of the two lactuca, it looks like the stronger of the two plants has a proud red edge with fine, well separated defined hairs. This could be a way to more definitively assert that you have the preferred *and* correct flowering plant. :3
It also looks like when the still green, properly dried leaves are thoroughly dehydrated neither of the plants has a thick spine on the leaf's edge or any thick red defining line. And the hairs on the leaf's spine seem almost flexible.but don't look like they stand back up after being flattened. (just an observation watching.)
I don't know.... I guess it's all about training the eye. Where I live all the weeds look nasty, there's probably a bunch of lettuce in there I never thought of. I'm afraid to go looking 😬 everything has spikes, some of the weeds look like they could be used as medieval weapons.
The Sow Thistle , is known by another name where I live , the whole plant being used for food and or medicine . Wild Lettuce , isn't as common , and the last thistle you showed , may also be known by another name - does it have purple flowers , which are attractive to pollinators . Thank you for the info , esp on wild lettuce , as I now know what to look for .
I want to find someone in my area of eastern coastal US to go hunting for wild plants. I want to search primarily for ginseng and this wild lettuce. I'm a novice forager and I don't want to get ahold of the wrong stuff and end up dying after ingesting some type of poison. Thx for this information. I'll put my dehydrator to work smile😊
Which species? I have a lot of dandelion, sow thistle, hawkbit, cats ear and other lookalikes in the garden so am clearing al the weeds and sowing lactuca virosa in a specific spot so I know exactly what it is and what it looks like at all growth stages. He seems focused on other species. I have a prescription for medical cannabis as I am mobility impaired have PTSD and am an insomniac since childhood but my support worker wants me to take codeine, corticosteroids and promethazine instead saying cannabis is a dangerous depressant that will give me psychosis as if those drugs don't have a track record of bad side effects and deaths. so I'm going to go with whatever other plants that are legal even if they're inarguably more toxic than cannabis..
I'm having trouble on finding out when the best time is to cut down the wild lettuce and make it into medicine. I have a huge One growing it's taller then me and I'm 6 foot tall. But it does not have any flowers on it yet, but I have small ones that have flowers on them so I'm kind of confused on what's going on here? Also is it okay to harvest wild lettuce Leafs if there is grey spots on the leafs from a bug or mite? Can anybody give me some advise please, I live in Indiana by Indianapolis.
Great questions! In terms of timing, I see a lot of articles claim that it is very important to wait until after flowering in order to get the most out of this plant. That seems to be based on the idea that the plant will exude more latex after it has flowered. This may or may not be true, but it isn't important to me as I make a whole plant concentrated extract, not just an isolation of the Latex. I've harvested both before and after flowering and haven't noticed a drastic difference in effect. In terms of the gray spots/bug damage, I wouldn't use it myself. There is usually plenty of wild lettuce to go around, so I might as well save those for the bugs, fungi, and bacteria!
Happy to have found this channel, it is so interesting! Thank you for the information. I eat the wild lettuce and the dandelion and make tea with the thistles.
I am an insomniac with severe osteoarthritis who lives in Southern California and want to get off of pain meds. I read that wild lettuce grows in four countries in California but haven’t found exactly what counties. Any help from other RU-vidrs would be appreciated.
Hey, I just found your video and it made me curious to try out making the sleep aid and pain reliever medicine cause I have a Wild Lettuce in my garden. I checked your videos but didn‘t find one on that topic so I‘d be happy if you indeed made one about it. :-)
Uuuhhh, stupid question. Can I still use this if I'm allergic to latex? I've really been thinking about foraging a lot lately and this fits right in. Thanks so much for such a great video. Subscribing now!
Ok Im looking at what Ive always called Wild Lettuce , But My plants seem a little different. They Look almost exactly like yours, except the leaf that connects to the main steem is very thin & not as wide as yours, Also i have to strain to see tiny hairs on the bottom of the leaf vein because they are so tiny. Takes a bright light to see them. None are growing in full sunlight.
That's a great question. :) It's going to be part of a future project, so I won't say them all, but I'll give you a sneak peak to a few: - Purple Dead Nettle - Black Locust - Morels - Sumac - Goldenrod - Acorns
New subscriber here too - you are an excellent teacher and I'm hoping what's growing in back of my kennels is wild lettuce and not thistle. Thanks for the video!
Wow man I just discovered your channel thank you for the info I always wonder about what plants I can eat I hope you have a video on mushrooms I love mushrooms but I don’t know anything about which are safe to eat
The first time I noticed the trichomes I got the involuntary thought "the dragon has a spine..." Thanks for confirming to me it's a reliable identifier
I found this very informative! However, I have a continuing problem as I try to ID exactly which variety of Lactuca I have. My understanding is L. virosa is the one you need for pain, so I'm still stumped as to which variety of Lactuca I have. It's growing in a central stalk, it has spines along the midrib, and the leaves alternate and are clasping. 🤔
L. virosa is probably the most well known for the use you are referring to, but I've definitely used L. serriola in the exact same way without issue! I don't think L. virosa, the European variety, occurs in the US in the wild anywhere outside of the West coast.
Thank you for this useful video. However, can I dry the leaves in an oven too and how many degrees Celsius for how long? I don't have a fooddryer and just this year this wild lettuce popped up everywhere.❤
I've heard its similar looking to Other potentially poisonous look-alikes such as Snakeroot Nettles Dogbane Milkweed Water Hemlock So thanks for making this.. the place i read that they were similar didn't explain how
Is there a way to send a picture of what I have to see if it's the right plant. It seems to have all the characteristics except that the leaves while somewhat like the ones you show are more rounded. But it has the hairs, runcinate attachment and grew in a large stalk.
Hey Man I live in North Alabama. "somerville to be exact. I`m a newer youtuber. Isnt this what they call Polk Salat? in Arab they serve it once a year if so. " Its terrible TBH" anyway cool stuff glad to hear you`re from North Al
Some people say that wild Lettuce stalks or solid, but others have shown serriola and Canadensis to have hollow stalks. Do you know if lactuca virosa has solid stalks?
