Both Cos and Cabbage varieties are extensively cultivated. The Cos Lettuces are known under the name of Romaine in French gardens, to distinguish them from the Cabbage varieties, which are simply called Laitue, or Lettuce.

For early frame crops the best Cabbage Lettuces are "The Crepe", or "Petite noire", and these are followed by the "Gotte" (white and black seeded) varieties, including Tom Thumb, Golden Frame (Jaune d'or), The George, and the Black-seeded Tom Thumb (Gotte lente a monter).

For early outdoor crops such varieties of Cabbage Lettuce as "All the Year Round" (Blonde d'ete and Merveille de Quatre Saisons), Brown Genoa, or Palatine, Giant Summer or Mogul (Grosse brune paresseuse), White Stone or Nonpareil (Grosse blonde paresseuse), and White-seeded Chavigny (Blonde de Chavigny) are chiefly grown; but there are many others according to the taste of the individual growers.

For the winter season one of the best Cabbage Lettuces is the "Passion", both white and black-seeded varieties, the black-seeded variety having green leaves, while the white has the foliage tinted with red. The black-seeded Passion Lettuce resembles very much the well-known "Stan-stead Park" variety so largely grown in English market gardens. Other winter Cabbage Lettuces are Winter White (Grosse blonde d'hiver), Hammersmith, or Hardy Winter Green (Morine), and Winter Tremont - all good hardy varieties.