Endive lettuce

Endive lettuce is a plant of the Asteraceae family of the order Platycodonales. It is a perennial herb with milky juice in the whole plant. The stems are upright, 30-80 cm high. The underground rhizomes are creeping, mostly with fibrous roots. Endive is also known as sorrel (named in the north), also known as thistle in Heilongjiang, and called endive, hemp, and quya in Shandong. It is mainly distributed in northwest, north, and northeast my country, and is wild. In places such as barren hillsides, beaches, and roadsides with an altitude of 200 meters to 2,300 meters. It is edible. It is mostly eaten in the Northeast as dipping sauce; in the Northwest, it is mostly eaten as stuffed buns, dumplings, mixed with noodles or processed sauerkraut; in North China, it is mostly eaten as cold salad, mixed with noodles and steamed.

Morphological characteristics

Endive is a perennial herb with latex in the whole plant. The stems are upright, 30-80 cm high. The underground rhizomes are creeping, mostly with fibrous roots. The above-ground stems have few branches, are upright and smooth. Most leaves are alternate, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. 8-20 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, blunt apex, ear-shaped clasping stem at the base, sparsely notched or lobed edges, notches and lobes with sharp teeth; basal leaves have short stalks, and stem leaves are stalkless. The inflorescence is terminal, single or corymb-shaped, 2 to 4 cm in diameter, involucre bell-shaped; the flowers are all tongue-shaped, bright yellow; 5 stamens, connate anthers; 1 pistil, inferior ovary, slender style , stigma 2-lobed, style and stigma both have white glandular hairs. Achene, ribbed, flattened laterally, with longitudinal ribs, and multiple layers of white pappus at the apex. The crest is fine and soft. The flowering period is from July to March of the following year. The fruiting period is from August to October to April of the following year. Stolony sorrel is a perennial herb, 30-60cm tall