Check out Eat the Weeds for more details. Lamiums do not posses the stinging quality, and so they are “dead.” The young leaves, shoots, and flowers of henbit and purple deadnettle are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. Plants in the genus Lamium are commonly referred to as dead-nettles because they resemble stinging nettle ( Urtica dioica) and other plants in the genus Urtica. Each plant can produce dozens of seeds, and seeds remain viable in the soil for as long as 25 years. While henbit and purple deadnettle are highly attractive to bees, they do not always require insect pollination and can self-pollinate instead. Purple deadnettle inhabits similar sites, often forming a dense groundcover. According to Weeds of North America, “henbit is poisonous to livestock, especially sheep, causing the animal to stagger ” it is also a host for aster yellows, tobacco etch, and tobacco mosaic viruses.
It is common in agricultural crops and fallow fields as well. In urban environments it is commonly found in lawns, garden beds, and drainage ditches. It can have either a prostrate or an erect growth habit.
PURPLE DEADNETTLE WEEDS WITH PURPLE FLOWERS FULL
Henbit prefers full sun and moist, rich soils.
Identify That Plant offers a great tutorial to help tell these and groundy ivy (another spring-occurring, annual weed in the mint family) apart. The uppermost leaves of purple deadnettle are a distinct reddish-purple. The upper leaves of purple deadnettle ( Lamium purpureum) are crowded around the stem, have short petioles, sharper teeth, and are more spade-shaped, coming to a point at the tip. The upper leaves of henbit ( Lamium amplexicaule) lack petioles and are round or oval with rounded teeth. Looking closely at the leaves is the best way to tell these two apart. Both are in the genus Lamium and the family Lamiaceae (the mint family) and both arrived from Europe. Two common, annual, spring weeds that are easily recognizable – but often mistaken for one another – are henbit and purple deadnettle. One major difference between spring ephemeral weeds and spring ephemeral wildflowers is that, despite having similar strategies and providing similar services, the spring weeds aren’t from here and so we look down on them. They thrive in cool temperatures, and their flowers provide early pollen and nectar for emerging pollinators. They exploit the sun made available before deciduous trees and shrubs can hog it all, and they take advantage of the moisture in the soil brought by winter snowfall and spring rain. They start early, greening up and flowering even before there are leaves on the trees. There is a parallel between them and the spring wildflowers we love. Henbit freely branches from the base and can have both an. Now that we are heading into the hot days of summer, spring weeds (if they haven’t already) are fading. They grow near leaf axils or where leaves are attached to the stem.
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