Lactuca perennis, common names: mountain lettuce, blue lettuce or perennial lettuce, is a perennial herbaceous plant species belonging to the genus Lactuca of the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across most of central and southern Europe.[1] Its leaves are edible.
Lactuca perennis reaches on average of height, with a minimum height of . This plant is glabrous, the stems are erect and branched, leaves are greyish-green, the lower ones with a small petioles, the upper ones partly amplexicaul. It is hermaphrodite and entomophilous. The flowers are violet-blue, with a size of 30-. The flowering period extends from April through August and the seeds ripen from July until September.[2]
In southern France it is sometimes referred to by its Occitan name “breou”https://www.sudcevennes.com/Savourer/Nos-recettes/Salade-sauvage-de-Danielle or “breu”https://translate.panlex.org/?langDe=oci-000&langAl=eng-000&txt=breu
These plants prefer calcareous well-drained soils and they are common on sunny rocky soils, on dry meadows, on roadsides and on banks of rivers. They can be found on average at 500- above sea level.