Plant Library
Types of lettuce: 12 varieties from butterhead to romaine
The 12 best types of lettuce — butterhead, romaine, loose-leaf, crisphead — with bolting tolerance, heat ratings, and UK + US cultivar picks.
Types of lettuce: 12 varieties from butterhead to romaine
Lettuce is the salad headline crop in both the UK and US, and the 12 types below cover almost every cultivar you will meet on a seed rack. The four main groups — butterhead, romaine, loose-leaf, and crisphead — differ in leaf texture, head form, bolting speed, and how long they sit in the ground before going to seed. This guide ranks each variety by heat tolerance (the single biggest deciding factor between a lettuce that crops for two months and a lettuce that bolts in three weeks), with the cultivar names UK and US gardeners should actually grow.
Choose lettuce for your climate: Tell Growli your zone and we will rank the 12 types of lettuce by which will crop longest in your specific summer.
How we group the four main types
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is one species with four distinct growth habits, all responding to day length and temperature in different ways. Day length over about 14 hours and temperatures over 25°C (77°F) trigger bolting — the plant switches from leaf production to flower-and-seed production, leaves toughen and turn bitter, and the plant becomes inedible.
- Butterhead (Bibb, Boston) — soft loose heads, buttery leaves, mild flavour. The most delicate texture and the fastest to bolt of the head types.
- Romaine (cos) — upright elongated heads with crisp ribs and a sweet crunch. The Caesar-salad and gem-salad backbone, and the most heat-tolerant of the head types.
- Loose-leaf (cutting, baby leaf) — no central head at all. Cut individual leaves from the outside in, plant keeps producing for 6 to 10 weeks. The cut-and-come-again type beginners should start with.
- Crisphead (iceberg) — tight crunchy supermarket-style heads. The slowest type — 70 to 90 days to mature — and the trickiest at home because the bottom leaves rot before the heart fills if conditions are wrong.
A fifth category — batavia or summer crisp — sits between butterhead and crisphead with loose semi-crunchy heads. We cover one batavia cultivar in the loose-leaf section because that is how most seed catalogues file them.
Butterhead lettuce
Soft, ruffled, loose heads with a buttery mild flavour. Older traditional UK and French gardens are full of butterheads; the supermarket trade preferred the crispness of romaine and iceberg, so butterheads remain a home-garden favourite. The fastest to bolt of the head types — sow in cool seasons, harvest before midsummer.
1. Buttercrunch — Lactuca sativa (Bibb butterhead)
The most-grown butterhead in the US and one of the most heat-tolerant lettuces in retail. AAS (All-America Selections) winner. Garden writers call it "slow to bolt, withstands heat well, recommended for hot dry climates" — it crops two to three weeks longer in summer heat than standard butterheads. UK gardeners get the same benefit through a long English summer.
Days to maturity: 50 to 65 days. Heat tolerance: Excellent (one of the top 3 heat-tolerant lettuces in retail). Best for: US zones 5 to 9 in summer, UK gardens spring through early autumn.
2. Tom Thumb — Lactuca sativa (mini butterhead)
The classic English mini-butterhead — tennis-ball-sized heads, sweet leaves, perfect for cool growing seasons. Grows fast (40 to 50 days) and stays compact, ideal for raised beds and containers.
Days to maturity: 40 to 50 days. Heat tolerance: Low (bolts in midsummer). Best for: Spring and autumn sowings. UK favourite for window boxes.
3. Bibb — Lactuca sativa (classic butterhead)
The original Bibb, from Major John Bibb's Kentucky garden in the 19th century. Small tender heads with buttery leaves. The cultivar that gave its name to the whole subgroup. Modern Bibb-type seeds in the trade include Buttercrunch, Burpee Bibb, and Tom Thumb.
Heat tolerance: Moderate.
Romaine (cos) lettuce
Upright elongated heads with crisp ribs and a sweet crunch. Most heat-tolerant of the head types. The Caesar-salad headline and the British "Little Gem" salad-bag staple. The name "cos" comes from the Greek island of Kos.
4. Jericho — Lactuca sativa (Israeli romaine)
A blonde-green romaine bred in Israel specifically for heat tolerance. Field trials at the University of California's Fair Oaks Horticulture Center recorded Jericho still un-bolted after 73 days of summer growing in Sacramento — well past the point at which most varieties had flowered. Resists tipburn and slow to bolt. Recommended by university extension services across the US south.
Days to maturity: 55 to 65 days. Heat tolerance: Excellent (best-in-class for hot-climate summer growing). Best for: US zones 7 to 10 in summer, UK polytunnels through July.
5. Little Gem — Lactuca sativa (mini romaine)
The British supermarket headline. Small tight romaine hearts about 6 inches tall, ready in 7 to 8 weeks. The most-sold loose romaine in UK retail. Crops well across the UK summer and into autumn.
Days to maturity: 55 to 65 days. Heat tolerance: Moderate. Best for: UK home gardens. The reliable workhorse cos.
6. Cos / Romaine "Lobjoits Green" — Lactuca sativa
The traditional tall upright UK cos — 10 to 12-inch heads, classic mid-green leaves, sweet hearts. A heritage cultivar still widely available from UK seed houses.
Heat tolerance: Moderate. Best for: Spring and autumn UK crops, large Caesar salads.
Loose-leaf lettuce (cut-and-come-again)
No central head — leaves harvested individually from the outside in. The most productive group on a small bed because one sowing crops for 6 to 10 weeks. The beginner's best starting point. Plant breeders have produced dozens of decorative colour-and-texture cultivars in the loose-leaf group.
7. Salad Bowl — Lactuca sativa (green and red)
The AAS-winning loose-leaf classic. Deeply lobed oak-style leaves in green ("Green Salad Bowl") and red ("Red Salad Bowl") forms. Slow to bolt and holds quality longer than most loose-leafs.
Days to maturity: 45 to 60 days for full heads, 25 to 35 for baby leaves. Heat tolerance: Good.
8. Black-Seeded Simpson — Lactuca sativa
The American heritage loose-leaf — 1850s American seed catalogue staple. Pale-green frilly leaves, fastest to harvest of the loose-leafs (45 days), tolerates light frost.
Days to maturity: 45 to 55 days. Heat tolerance: Moderate.
9. Lollo Rossa and Lollo Bionda — Lactuca sativa (Italian frilly)
The frilly Italian loose-leafs. Lollo Rossa has deep-red ruffled tips on green stems; Lollo Bionda is the all-green version. Mild flavour and dramatic visual texture make them the salad-bag favourites in UK supermarkets.
Heat tolerance: Good. Best for: Mixed salad bowls, decorative borders, baby-leaf cropping.
10. Oakleaf — Lactuca sativa
Deeply lobed oak-leaf-shaped foliage, in green and red forms. Crops as a loose-leaf or grown longer to form a soft semi-head. The most heat-tolerant cut-and-come-again type — many oakleaf cultivars hold for 8 weeks.
Heat tolerance: Very good.
Crisphead (iceberg) lettuce
Tight crunchy heads built for transport and shelf life. The slowest type — 70 to 90 days from sowing — and the most challenging at home. Worth the effort once for the satisfaction of growing a real iceberg.
11. Webb's Wonderful — Lactuca sativa
The traditional UK iceberg. Large pale-green tight heads, slow to bolt for a crisphead. A heritage UK seed-rack standard since the early 20th century.
Days to maturity: 75 to 85 days. Heat tolerance: Moderate.
12. Nevada — Lactuca sativa (heat-tolerant batavia / summer crisp)
A mild-flavoured Batavia (summer-crisp) crosses the line between crisphead and butterhead. Field trials consistently rank Nevada as among the top heat-tolerant lettuces — resists tipburn, bottom rot, and bolting. Widely recommended by university extension services for summer cropping in the US south and across the UK in long warm seasons.
Days to maturity: 60 to 70 days. Heat tolerance: Excellent. Best for: Summer cropping anywhere standard crispheads would bolt.
Heat-tolerance ranking
If you only care about how long a lettuce will hold without bolting in summer, the ranking from most heat-tolerant to least is roughly:
- Jericho (romaine) — bolt-resistant past 70 days in Sacramento heat trials.
- Nevada (batavia / summer crisp) — heat-tolerant, tipburn-resistant.
- Buttercrunch (butterhead) — slow-bolt butterhead recommended for hot-dry climates.
- Oakleaf loose-leafs — green and red.
- Salad Bowl loose-leafs.
- Lollo Rossa / Bionda loose-leafs.
- Little Gem romaine.
- Webb's Wonderful iceberg.
- Black-Seeded Simpson loose-leaf.
- Lobjoits Green cos.
- Bibb butterhead.
- Tom Thumb mini butterhead (the fastest to bolt — keep to spring and autumn).
For the UK, anything from positions 1 to 6 will crop through a normal summer; positions 7 to 12 are spring-and-autumn-only. For the US south (zones 8 to 10), only positions 1, 2, and 3 will reliably crop in midsummer outdoors. Northern US (zones 5 to 7) sees the full range crop through to August in most years.
How to choose which lettuce to grow
Start with the season and work down.
Season. Cool spring and autumn growing? Pick what you like the look of from any of the 12. Hot summer growing? Limit to the top 4 heat-tolerant cultivars and sow under shade cloth or behind taller crops.
Salad pattern. If your household pulls a single head for a dinner salad two or three times a week, grow head types (butterhead, romaine, crisphead) and stagger sowings. If you want a fresh handful of mixed leaves daily for sandwiches and bowls, loose-leaf is the answer — one sowing of three cultivars crops for 8 weeks.
Space. Patio container or window box? Mini types — Tom Thumb butterhead, Little Gem romaine, baby-leaf loose-leaf mixes. Raised bed? Anything. Open ground in a vegetable plot? Crispheads and full romaines justify the space they take.
Visual interest. Mixed salad bowls of red and green oakleaf, lollo rossa, and red salad bowl rival any ornamental border for colour and pattern. See our companion plants for lettuce guide for crops that look as good as they taste alongside lettuce.
Sow every 2 to 3 weeks from March through August in the UK, and from January in the US south through October in the US north, for continuous harvest. Stop sowing in midsummer if your forecast shows a week above 27°C (80°F) — wait for the heat to break.
Common mistakes
Sowing too thickly. Lettuce seed is fine and one packet has 800+ seeds. Sow thinly, thin ruthlessly to final spacing (4 inches for loose-leaf, 8 inches for heads, 12 inches for romaine), and use the thinnings in salad.
Sowing in midsummer. Lettuce seed enters thermodormancy above 27°C (80°F) and refuses to germinate. Sow before 8am, water the drill before sowing to cool it, or refrigerate seed for 48 hours before sowing in hot weather.
Inconsistent watering. Stress triggers bolting. Water deeply twice a week rather than lightly daily. A 2-inch layer of mulch around plants helps enormously.
Not netting against slugs. Slugs and snails will demolish a row of seedlings overnight. Beer traps, copper rings, or organic slug pellets all help. Wood-ash and crushed eggshells are folk remedies with weak evidence — go with proven controls if slug pressure is real.
Ignoring shade. A lettuce row planted behind tall climbing beans or sweetcorn crops 3 to 4 weeks longer in midsummer than one in full open sun. Plan the shade in.
Try Growli: Open Growli and we'll tell you when your local conditions are about to push lettuce into bolting — and which of your sown cultivars will hold longest.
Related articles
- How to start a vegetable garden — the salad-bed foundation
- Easiest vegetables to grow — lettuce ranks in the top 5
- Types of vegetables — the full kitchen-garden taxonomy
- Companion planting guide — what to plant alongside lettuce
- Companion plants for lettuce — research-backed pairings
- Types of soil — the soil texture lettuce loves
- Types of fertiliser — feeding leafy crops
Reviewed and updated by the Growli editorial team. For questions about anything here, open Growli and ask — or email hello@getgrowli.app.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main types of lettuce?
The four main groups are butterhead (soft loose heads — Buttercrunch, Tom Thumb, Bibb), romaine or cos (upright crisp heads — Jericho, Little Gem, Lobjoits Green), loose-leaf or cutting (no head — Salad Bowl, Black-Seeded Simpson, Lollo Rossa, Oakleaf), and crisphead or iceberg (tight crunchy heads — Webb's Wonderful, Nevada). A fifth group, batavia or summer crisp, sits between butterhead and crisphead.
What is the easiest type of lettuce to grow?
Loose-leaf cut-and-come-again types — Salad Bowl, Black-Seeded Simpson, Lollo Rossa, Oakleaf — are the most beginner-friendly. One sowing crops for 6 to 10 weeks, no head needs to form, and slug pressure is more forgiving. Sow direct, thin to 4-inch spacing, pick leaves from the outside in.
Which lettuce is most heat-tolerant?
Jericho (Israeli-bred romaine), Nevada (batavia / summer crisp), and Buttercrunch (butterhead) are the three most heat-tolerant cultivars in retail. Jericho stood up to 73 days of Sacramento summer in field trials before bolting. Heat-tolerant cultivars hold 2 to 3 weeks longer than standard varieties before going to seed.
Why does my lettuce keep bolting?
Bolting is triggered by long days (over 14 hours) and high temperatures (over 25°C / 77°F). Choose heat-tolerant cultivars (Jericho, Nevada, Buttercrunch), sow in cool seasons, plant in afternoon shade, water consistently, and harvest young. A 2-inch mulch keeps soil cool and slows bolting by another 1 to 2 weeks.
When should I plant lettuce?
In the UK, sow every 2 to 3 weeks from March through August outdoors, plus February in a greenhouse and September outdoors for autumn crops. In the US, sow from January in zone 9 to 10, March in zone 5 to 7, with a second autumn window starting in August (south) to September (north). Stop summer sowings during week-long heatwaves.
Can I grow lettuce in pots?
Yes, especially loose-leaf types and mini butterheads (Tom Thumb) and mini romaines (Little Gem). Use a pot at least 6 inches deep, sow thinly, thin to 4 inches apart, water consistently, and feed once with a balanced liquid feed at 3 weeks. Pots dry out faster than beds — check daily in summer.
What is the difference between cos and romaine lettuce?
Cos and romaine are the same lettuce — different regional names. The UK and Europe use "cos" (after the Greek island of Kos where the type was bred). The US uses "romaine." Same upright crisp-ribbed heads, same uses, same growing conditions.
How do I harvest cut-and-come-again lettuce?
Pick the outer leaves first, working from the outside in, leaving the central growing point intact. Take no more than a third of the leaves at any one harvest. The plant produces new leaves from the centre and you can crop the same plants for 6 to 10 weeks before they finally bolt. Cutting straight across with scissors also works ("cut-and-come-again" in the strict sense) and the plants regrow from the base.