As winter leaves central Texas, one of the first blooming signs is a small plant that can be found in yards all over town as well as throughout Madrone Canyon. It is usually about 5-10 inches tall, and has both an interesting tubular purple flower and a unique leaf arrangement. Lamium or henbit is one of those pesky plants treated as lawn weeds, but we need to remember that this is its place. It was here before your lawn, and is a survivor plant or weed.
Lamium is a member of Lamiaceae or the Mint family. This is the family of plants that also contains many plants used for cooking like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, and lavender. The family can be identified by square stems and most of the family has paired opposite leaves and tubular flowers. Here is a digital microscope picture of the stem in cross section where you can see how it is square and hollow.
Henbit / Lamium has leaves that wrap around the stem near the upper part of the plant and lower leaves that may have a bit of a stalk. The flowers are a ½ inch long, light purple and tubular. The leaves are edible and while they don’t have quite the same amount of flavor as other plants of this family, they are a bit peppery.
