Lamb's Quarters

"Lamb's Quarters" (Chenopodium album)

2007 June 17

2007 June 17

2007 June 17

2007 September 1

2007 September 1

An edible potherb from Eurasia related to spinach. I have eaten the leaves both cooked and raw in salads. It is high in iron, beta-carotene and vitamin C but does contain oxalalic acid which may interfere with calcium metabolism ... if eaten in large quantities.

Seeds (about 72,000 seeds per plant) may be ground and used as a coffee substitute ... or a flour substitute. Bonaparte apparently fed his army bread made from the seed somewhere along the line!

The plant may be boiled and used as a crude green dye.

The leaves are shaped somewhat like a goose's foot so hence the name Chenopodium (chen = goose; podos = a foot). Also called pigweed, or in England, "midden myles".