The common, and noticeably tall, leafy stalk of the Wild Lettuce raises its unattractive, pale yellow flowers anywhere from three to ten feet high, in moist, open places, usually along our roadsides, from June to November. This milky-juiced plant is annual or biennial, and is smooth, and branches loosely at the top to accommodate the flowers. The leaves are exceedingly variable in size and shape. The lower ones are sometimes a foot long, and are very irregularly cut, gouged, and wavy-lobed, and as they mount the stalk they become more regular, and are finally often lance-shaped and entire. The rays of the numerous small flower heads are strap-shaped, and are set in a little green, vase-shaped cup. The flowers are succeeded by conspicuous silky heads of down. The plant has a vigorous growth, and is rather coarse-looking. The generic name is derived from the ancient Latin, lac-milk, and refers to the milky juice of the stalk and foliage. Lettuce has been known and used as a salad from a very remote period, and the Persian kings are said to have had it served on their tables, four or five hundred years before the Christian era. The wild plants are often gathered for salad. The ancients believed that Lettuce produced sleep, and it is claimed to possess the calming properties of opium. It has been used to allay cough and to quiet nervous irritation. In France, a water distilled from the leaves is used for its soothing effects. The fresh leaves, when boiled, are sometimes used in relieving convulsions. The Wild Lettuce is found from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas, north to Canada. There are nearly one hundred members of this group distributed throughout North America and some of them are difficult to distinguish.