Lapsana communis L. Nipplewort
Nipplewort is native to Europe, from Britain and Scandinavia to North Africa and western and central Asia. Identification: Plants are 6-60″ (15-152 cm) in height, either hairy or hairless. A stiff major stem is often reddish and somewhat ridged. Leaves are oval or round, ⅜-6″ (1-15 cm) × ⅜-2½″ (1-7 cm). Each leaf has a large roughly triangular (deltate) lobe at the end, often with two smaller side lobes at the base that vaguely resemble nipples, hence the common name. Lower leaves also have a long petiole that is slightly winged and hairy. They flower from April to September. Flowers occur in panicles of 5-25, rarely as high as 100, each flower ¼-½″ (6.3-12 mm) across, with 18-20 pale yellow rays. Though similar in appearance to hawkweed flowers, they are somewhat paler and, instead of dense dandelion-like centers, the centers look significantly different. Nipplewort looks superficially similar to hawkweeds. See this hawkweed comparison table for details. Medical: The milky latex exuded from cut stems and leaves is said to be soothing to the skin, specifically to nipples of nursing mothers. Online References:
Forest and Kim Starr’s Starr Environmental site The University of Wisconsin's Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants References:
Clemants, Steven; Gracie, Carol, Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 162
Lapsana communis description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020. |
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