Summary
Seven wild Lactuca species: L. serriola L., L. aculeata Boiss. & Ky., L. scarioloides Boiss., L. azerbaijanica Rech., L. georgica Grossh., L. dregeana DC. and L. altaica Fisch. & C.A. Mey., are taxonomically closely related to the cultivated lettuce. Together with L. sativa they form a distinct natural group. Only scanty information is available on genetic affinities among the various members of this group. However, the combined taxonomic and genetic evidence indicates that all these 7 wild lettuces are very likely interfertile (or largely interfertile) with the crop, and constitute its primary wild gene pool. Also the taxonomically more distant L. saligna L. is partly cross-fertile with the crop.
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Zohary, D. The wild genetic resources of cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Euphytica 53, 31–35 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00032029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00032029