Bitter Lettuce

Lactuca virosa

Found in disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?

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At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 1 Florida county.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

48CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL

Genus host records with ranges including FL · Lactuca

Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
Agrotis malefidaRascal Dart, Pale-Sided Cut-Worm, Shagreened Cut-Worm
Agrotis vetustaOld Man Dart
Anagrapha falciferaCelery Looper Moth
Apantesis carlottaCarlotta's Tiger Moth
Apantesis dorisDoris Tiger Moth
Apantesis virgoVirgin Tiger Moth
Cerastis tenebriferaReddish Speckled Dart
Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
Chytolita morbidalisMorbid Owlet

Show all 48

Condica vecorsDusky Groundling
Dichomeris ligulellaPalmerworm
Estigmene acreaSalt Marsh Moth, Acrea Moth
Feltia herilisMaster's Dart
Feltia jaculiferaDingy Cutworm
Feltia repletaReplete Dart
Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
Heliothis phloxiphagaSpotted Straw Sun Moth, Darker Spotted Straw Moth
Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
Lacinipolia implicataImplicit Arches
Lacinipolia renigeraBristly Ground Cat, Bristly Cutworm Moth, Kidney Spotted "Mamestra"
Manduca sextaCarolina Sphinx, Tomatoe Sphinx, Tobacco Hornworm
Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
Pagara simplexMouse-Colored Lichen Moth
Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
Phycitodes reliquellaWhite-Edged Phycitodes
Platynota stultanaOmnivorous Leafroller
Pyrrharctia isabellaIsabella Tiger Moth, Banded Woolybear
Seirarctia echoEcho Moth
Spilosoma congruaAgreeable Tiger Moth
Spodoptera androgeaAndrogea Armyworm
Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
Spoladea recurvalisHawaiian Beet Webworm
Sutyna privataCheckered Sallow, Private Sallow
Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
Virbia rubicundariaRuddy Virbia, Ruddy Holomelina
Xanthopastis regnatrixConvict Caterpillar, Spanish Quaker, Spanish Moth
Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
Eucosma ornatula
Thyraylia bunteana

Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)

—BeesSoutheastern regional records

9Specialist beesPollen specialists

Pollen specialists · Lactuca

Andrena chromotricha
Andrena runcinatae
Ashmeadiella bucconis
Dianthidium curvatum
Dianthidium simile
Melissodes confusus
Melissodes illatus
Melissodes subillatus
Melissodes vernoniae

Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0

7BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Lactuca

Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
Centrocercus urophasianusGreater Sage-Grouse
Dendragapus obscurusDusky Grouse
Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Oreortyx pictusMountain Quail
Perdix perdixGray Partridge
Zonotrichia leucophrysWhite-crowned Sparrow

Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family: Asteraceae

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Conservation status

Florida rank	Not available
Global rank	GNR
FL status	Not verified
Federal status	Not verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

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