22 July 2008

Blue Lettuce

Blue Lettuce flowerThe delicate looks of this flower are misleading, as it can thrive in inhospitable spots: the first one I noticed was growing in a crack in a city street. My extensive internet research this afternoon has suggested the name Blue Lettuce (Lactuca tatarica). There's a subspecies called Lactuca tatarica pulchella (which sounds even more like an exotic dancer than the first one), but I'm not sure what the differences between the two are.

It was only when I came to upload the photo that I realised how beautiful the disc florets in the centre of the flower head are: like mini ionic columns.

Disk florets on Blue Lettuce flower

1 comment:

Jane O' said...

It's a wonderful shade of blue. It always amazes me what a camera captures that we misswith our own eye.