All plants /Ground /Lamb's Quarters
Lamb's Quarters
Chenopodium album, amaranth family. Common in East and Central and West Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Young leaves and growing tips
- How
- Cooked like spinach; young leaves raw in moderation
- When
- April through August
- Where
- Gardens, field edges, disturbed rich soil
- Value
- Protein-rich green; vitamins A and C, calcium
Caution: Like spinach it carries oxalates, so cook mature leaves and vary your greens. Confirm the white dusty coating on new growth; nightshade seedlings share ground but lack it.
Identification
Goosefoot-shaped leaves with a white mealy dust on the newest growth that beads water like wax. Rub it: the dust is the fingerprint.
In the kitchen
This is the wild spinach that out-spinaches spinach: steamed, creamed, or folded into anything that welcomes a deep green leaf.
Photo: T. Voekler, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.