Lactuca orientalis (Boiss.) Boiss.
Scariola orientalis (Boiss.) Soják
Shrub, laticiferous, up to 50(60) cm in height, intricately branched, with the ends of branches lignified and spiny. Leaves from sinuate-dentate to pinnatilobed, with 2-4 pairs of lateral narrowly triangular lobes; lower leaves petiolate forming a basal rosette that develops in winter; cauline leaves smaller and less deeply divided, alternate, sessile, with longly decurrent base along the lower internode of the stem. Capitula solitary (terminal capitula pedunculate and lateral capitula sessile), with narrowly cylindrical involucre 7-10 mm in length at flowering and up to 15 mm at fruiting, with 3-4 rows of imbricate bracts and receptacle without interfloral scales. Involucral bracts green or somewhat purple; outer bracts approximately 6 times shorter than the inner bracts, ovate and pubescent at the base; inner bracts with obtuse apex, pubescent. Flowers 4(5) per capitulum, pale yellow, with long and bright yellow staminal tube. Achenes 6-8 × 1-3 mm, brownish or dark purplish, narrowly ellipsoid, somewhat compressed, with 5-9 ribs on each side, gradually narrowing at the apex in a 2-3 mm beak, with white pappus promptly caducous formed by several rows of 7-9 mm scabrid hairs.
Flowering:
June to September.
Fruiting:
July to October.
Habitat:
It grows in thickets that are small in height, in stony desert areas.
Distribution:
From the eastern Mediterranean to Tibet. In North Africa it is found in desert areas of the E of Egypt, between the Nile valley and the Red Sea, and in the Sinai Peninsula.
Conservation status:
Common and widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.