Prickly lettuce vs Wild Lettuce

Lactuca serriola compared with Lactuca saligna

Key Differences

• Prickly lettuce is Least Concern while Wild Lettuce is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Prickly lettuce	Wild Lettuce
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class same	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order same	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)
Family same	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)
Genus same	Lactuca	Lactuca
Species	Lactuca serriola	Lactuca saligna

Evolutionary Relationship

Prickly lettuce and Wild Lettuce share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Lactuca.

Conservation Status

Prickly lettuce

LC — Least Concern

Wild Lettuce

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Prickly lettuce	Wild Lettuce
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Prickly lettuce

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (4 countries), Asia (China, Japan, Taiwan), Europe (22 countries), North America (Canada, Mexico, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia), and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile).

Wild Lettuce

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, among 9 distinct biome types within the Neotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (4 countries), North America (Canada, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia), and South America (Brazil, Chile). Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 9 countries:

🇦🇺 Australia 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇨🇦 Canada 🇨🇱 Chile 🇵🇱 Poland 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇺🇸 United States