Lamium amplexicaule, Henbit deadnettle, Henbit Dead Nettle
Lamium amplexicaule, Henbit deadnettle, Henbit Dead Nettle, a mint family member native to Europe and Asia, naturalized as a weed in the United States. Rafinesque records early blooming by March 1, 1817 in Philadelphia. By 1753, Linnaeus lists it in North America in Species Plantarum, so it probably came with the first European settlers. For 1896, it was found blooming in Philadelphia as a winter annual on December 31st. C. S. Rafinesque in his Medical Botany (Vol 2, 1830, p. 235) also described this early blooming annual weed as a corroborant, cephalic, sudorific and laxative. When combined with prickly ash (Zanthoxylum) it was used for gout and rheumatism. Combined with Asarum it was used as a cephalic snuff [for headache?]. In preparation for eating weeds during war time, in 1942-43, George Washington Carver his Tuskegee Bulletin "Nature's Garden for Victory and Peace" he suggested adding the leaves mixed with salad greens or eaten alone, it could be used either in a cooked or uncooked salad.
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