Lettuce Seeds

Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa ) is a hardy annual plant of the aster or sunflower family Asteraceae. Lettuce as we call it, is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps. One type is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. Lettuce is a good source of vitamin A and potassium, as well as minor source for several other vitamins and nutrients. Despite its beneficial properties, contaminated lettuce is often the cause for bacterial, viral and parasitic outbreaks in humans.

Lettuce seeds are commercially grown to prevent the induction of thermo or photo-inhibition during the germination process. A secondary advantage of lettuce seed priming is a faster rate of radicle emergence across temperatures when seeds are planted. The combination of these advantages allows for more rapid and uniform field emergence, less variation in plant size, and thus a greater number of cartons per acre at harvest packout. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but also sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, who turned it from a weed whose seeds were used to make oil into a plant grown for its leaves. It spread to the Greeks and Romans, who gave it the name "lactuca", from which the modern "lettuce" ultimately derives.

Iceberg Lettuce

Chinese Lettuce

 Types of lettuce:

• Butterhead/Bibb lettuce
• Chinese lettuce
• Crisphead/Iceberg (until 1920’s it was called the crisphead but was renamed when California began transporting large quantities under mounds of ice to keep it cool.
• Loose leaf/Green leaf lettuce
• Romaine/Cos

Read more about Lettuce: http://seedbuzz.com/knowledge-center/article/lettuce-seeds