Changes

*''Lactuca brevirostris'' Champ. ex Benth. (1852). 

*Perennial, erect, tillering, laticiferous herb, with radical rosette when young, up to 2 m tall when flowering. *Leaves alternate, sessile, oblong-lanceolate, very variable in shape and dimension, with narrowed base and acute apex, 5-35 cm × 1-10 cm, often with a red midrib. *Inflorescence terminal, paniculiform or corymbiform, 50-100 cm long, many-branched, with numerous relatively small (2 cm × 5-7 mm) flower heads; involucral bracts partly ovate (outer ones), partly oblong-linear-lanceolate (inner ones); flowers ligulate, bright yellow, patent or obliquely erect. *Fruit a flat elliptical achene, 3-4 mm × 2 mm, black, shortly beaked, hard, at the top with a tuft of white hairs. Mature plants produce basal shoots.

Propagation is by seed, which germinate 3-4 days after sowing, or by root cuttings, which easily develop buds. Seeds are usually sown on a seed-bed and seedlings transplanted when they are 5-10 cm tall, 3-4 weeks after sowing. Cultivation methods are similar to lettuce ( ''L. sativa'' L.). Indian lettuce can be planted in field beds at a spacing of 30 cm × 30 cm. Because of its tall stature it is often planted in the middle of field beds to provide light shade for other vegetables. It is commonly grown on dikes of rice fields and in home gardens.

Some accessions of ''L. indica'' are usually maintained in germplasm collections of lettuce ( ''L. sativa'' ) and related species, but there are no specific collections for Indian lettuce.

There are clear breeding barriers between the " ''sativa-serriola'' " and " ''indica'' " group.

*Roemantyo