So this is what all those pretty "weeds" are sprouting in my lawn. I didn't know they were edible. Neat.

Henbit, a member of the mint family, is a common lawn âÂÂweedâ at this time of year that you can enjoy either sautéed with onions or mixed into salads.

Gee, I was kidding when I wondered about a cookbook, "100 Ways To Cook Henbit." It might be Survival Food, if it comes to that and the potatoes fail. ! Sure hope not.
Thanks, Violet.
Sunny

On this old computer, pictures arent clear. I'm definetly wondering about this weed. I have a weed thats everywhere, has purple flowers, and smells like mint. I wish I werent afraid to eat it--then it would be scarce every year.
I'm sure my extension bureau couldnt help, they dont seem to be able to on anything else. Any ideas?

Henbit and Purple or Red Deadnettle are both edible (raw or cooked) and are both are types of lamium. I have lots of both in my yard but have never eaten any. I thought deadnettle might be poison because of the name but read today that "dead" refers to the fact that it doesn't sting like stinging nettles.

Violet already posted a picture of henbit. Here's Purple Deadnettle. I wonder which one tastes better.

Here is a link that might be useful:

ceresone,

What state and county are you in? Each county extension has full time employees as sell as volunteers thru outreach programs. Some are a little more organized than others and sometimes it depends on who you talk to. Have you actually talked to anyone at your extension service?

What year, brand, and model of computer do you have and what operating system are you running?

>I have a weed that's everywhere, has purple flowers, and smells like mint. I wish I weren't afraid to eat it--then it would be scarce every year.

Yes, what you're referring to is henbit. And I can confidently say that if you try some to eat - you will NOT run out.

Here's another picture of henbit. Sorry if it takes a long time for these to load on your computer. Or is it just your monitor that's giving you trouble?
You need to treat yourself to a new computer girl. : )
I know you would get a lot of use out of it.

Ok - HERE'S the picture of henbit. Sorry.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1111331}}

Ok Violet I ate some henbit. lol Not very much though. I couldn't tell much difference in taste between purple deadnettle and henbit. Neither one was bitter or minty to me. Weird texture for greens and sort of bland. I didn't try cooking it.

I couldn't find much info on whether the flowers are edible too. Unless a person picked it before it was in flower, it would be a lot of trouble to remove the leaves and just eat those.

Did anyone else try it?

lol... cool. Even I haven't tried it. Third paragraph above recommends cooking it - so that might enhance the volatile oils. They seem like they're almost always in flower, I'm sure the flowers are edible, just as mint flowers are edible. But as you said, they may lack in strength of flavor, which might not be a bad thing.

I just tried yellow rocket, a wild native weed that is edible. It's quite bitter. Apparently the younger leaves in early spring are less bitter. Caught me by surprise because it started out sweet until you get a few chews in.

I realize I'm a little late for this discussion, but I had a tidbit I wanted to add anyway. As kids we used to pull a flower out of the top of the henbit and put it near our lips and inhale. It has a tiny bit of sweet sap (or so I guess) that is very pleasant. I recently showed this to my five year old daughter, then got worried it may not be good for her. After a frantic search online, I discovered the name of the plant and that it was indeed edible. So I ate a flower to see if it was sweet too. No such luck. I guess the sap is so minute it doesn't flavor the whole flower. Too bad. But it still makes a nice addition to a salad, though it's a little time consuming to collect!

Very interesting tidbit gardengrubber, thanks for the insight!