page_title: Lettuce
section_title: Cultivars (varieties)
hierarchical_section_title: Lettuce / Cultivation / Cultivars (varieties)
caption_attribution_description: Different sorts of lettuce at a market in Helsinki, Finland.
context_page_description: Lettuce is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled. One variety, the woju, or asparagus lettuce, is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. World production of lettuce and chicory for 2017 was 27 million tonnes, 56% of which came from China.
  Lettuce was originally farmed by the ancient Egyptians, who transformed it from a plant whose seeds were used to create oil into an important food crop raised for its succulent leaves and oil-rich seeds. Lettuce spread to the Greeks and Romans; the latter gave it the name lactuca, from which the English lettuce is derived.
context_section_description: There are several types or cultivars of lettuce.  Three types – leaf, head and cos or romaine – are the most common. There are seven main cultivar groups of lettuce, each including many varieties:
  Leaf – Also known as looseleaf, cutting or bunching lettuce, this type has loosely bunched leaves and is the most widely planted. It is used mainly for salads.
  Romaine/Cos – Used mainly for salads and sandwiches, this type forms long, upright heads. This is the most often used lettuce in Caesar salads.
  Iceberg/Crisphead – The most popular type in the United States, it is very heat-sensitive and was originally adapted for growth in the northern United States. It ships well, but is low in flavor and nutritional content, being composed of even more water than other lettuce types.
  Butterhead – Also known as Boston or Bibb lettuce, and traditionally in the UK as "round lettuce", this type is a head lettuce with a loose arrangement of leaves, known for its sweet flavor and tender texture.
  Summercrisp – Also called Batavian or French crisp, this lettuce is midway between the crisphead and leaf types. These lettuces tend to be larger, bolt-resistant and well-flavored.
  Celtuce/Stem – This type is grown for its seedstalk, rather than its leaves, and is used in Asian cooking, primarily Chinese, as well as stewed and creamed dishes.
  Oilseed – This type is grown for its seeds, which are pressed to extract an oil mainly used for cooking. It has few leaves, bolts quickly and produces seeds around 50 percent larger than other types of lettuce.
  Red leaf lettuce.
  The butterhead and crisphead types are sometimes known together as "cabbage" lettuce, because their heads are shorter, flatter, and more cabbage-like than romaine lettuces.
caption: A selection of lettuce cultivars
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