Lamium amplexicaule — the low purple-flowered mint-family plant that carpets yards and gardens in late winter. A tender, mild free green when almost nothing else is up.
Henbit is the kind of free green that filled a child's gathering basket in the yard itself, no field walk required. It speaks to how thoroughly Black Southern households knew the plants underfoot — that the 'weed' in the garden was actually the first salad of the year.
Henbit is an edible mint-family green that provided early-spring vitamin C and iron at the precise moment those nutrients were most depleted from a winter of preserved food. Folk tradition used it as a mild tonic and applied it in poultices; the plant carries antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals typical of the mint family. Mild enough to eat raw, it was a gentle living-food bridge into spring.
Pick the tender upper leaves, stems, and purple flowers — the whole top is edible. Eat raw in salads, stir into soups at the end, or wilt briefly with other spring greens. The square stem and scalloped leaves mark it as a safe mint-family plant.
Free, no account needed to ask.