Plant Identification Quiz #4

The rains are drizzling; the sun is a shiny spot in the gray sky. The air smells fresh and clean again. In the depth of a cold winter, the air here does not have much smell to it, but soon as the buds start to appear on the trees and shrubs and bulbs are poking their growth up out of the ground – and the temperature is warmer, the air is filled with sweet, fresh smells. I read somewhere that some of those smells are ancient. They are caused from the breakdown of plant material and other organisms. The oils and liquid from the plants seep into the earth. When the temperatures rise, the plants sprout up, causing a release of the aromatic oils from the soil. Interesting to think that you may be smelling a plant a million years old.

Some plants, you wouldn’t notice their smell and others you can’t help but notice their strong odor. I gravitate toward a plant that has more of an invisible quality to it – from my experience. It is one of those that grows mostly in disturbed areas, but appears to be a “weed” to most people (from an herbalist’s standpoint –weeds are good). This plant also grows well in gardens and, when left to live its life, can be a good garden staple. You can also find this plant near roadsides and fields. It grows mainly in lower to middle elevations. It is a product of the European invasion and has now naturalized in most of North America.

The leaves are irregularly toothed or lobed and some see the leaves shaped like a goose foot. They have a silvery coating or grayish-green covering underneath the young leaves, probably as some sort of protection mechanism from insects. The flowers grow in spikes and dense clusters at the stem tips and at the leaf axis and are small and greenish in color. They produce thin, white papery envelopes that contain a black shiny flattened seed. The seeds can be collected till first frost by stripping the seed envelopes off the stems and then winnowing the chaff. The seeds should be dried well to prevent mold when storing. The seeds then can be ground up and used as flour to make bread. This plant blooms around August 1st, Lammas Day, which is the first day of the harvest.

This plant is more of a health maintenance plant, meaning that it isn’t used as a medicine, so to speak. But then if you really look at food, all food is medicine, in small doses, if it is healthy live food because our bodies need vitamins and minerals and other natural substances in order to function like they do. I think of food as a necessity to life. The more life that is in the foods we eat, the more life we receive. Just look at a package of processed food sometime and ask where the life is in the product.

The native peoples used this plant as a potherb. The young leaves can be added to salads, the older leaves can be used like spinach. The greens contain Vitamin C, are rich in Vitamin A, are a good source of iron and potassium and are a rich source of calcium. The flowers and buds can be cooked as a potherb or added to recipes calling for cooked greens, such as lasagna or quiche. The plant can be dried and reconstitutes well for soup and stews. It can also be blanched until it just turns color then frozen for later use.

The plant does contain a large amount of oxalic acid and if you have a history of kidney problems, you might want to avoid this plant. The oxalic acid combines with calcium and converts it into calcium oxalate crystals which in high doses can cause or aggravate kidney problems. The cooking process will get rid of the oxalic acid.

Also, this plant is very good at absorbing nitrates from contaminated soils and is nature’s way of cleaning up the soil in disturbed sites. So, when harvesting, be very careful in your choice of locations.

It is amazing what you will find growing in the garden this spring. I often let a plant take hold and grow through its life span just to see what it will do, especially if I don’t recognize the young plant. This is also a great journaling opportunity to sketch each stage of the plants. I am not so picky about what is growing where anymore, as long as it isn’t getting pushy and taking over another plants space. If we look at all plants for their potential, we really could eat out of our yards all year long.

Step out your back door and look for this Chenopodium album in your garden or fields this August. From the Greek Chen, meaning goose and pous meaning foot referring to the leaf shape, the most common name is Goosefoot or White Goosefoot. Another common name is Pigweed and you will find a lot of plants called “Pigweed,” so look closely for Lamb’s Quarters.