PACIFIC NORTHWEST GROWN. Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa), Cut and Sifted, Wild Harvested, Premium Harvest Common names: Bitter Lettuce, Great Lettuce, Opium Lettuce, Giftsallat, Rakutu Karyumu So Family: Asteraceae Wild Lettuce is a biennial relative of cultivated lettuce, native to central and southern Europe, and naturalized in North America, Australia, and parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is tall, sometimes reaching heights of up to 6 feet, and grows on banks and in waste places. When cut or torn, the plant secretes a milky juice known as lactucarium, which contains lactucin and lactupicrin, sesquiterpene lactones that provide the sedative and analgesic properties Wild Lettuce is known for.