Henbit  (Lamium amplexicauleis) a member of the mint family and got its common name because chickens love to eat it.  It is native to the Mediterranean and northern Africa.  It has naturalized over much of North America.

Clumps of henbit begin showing up in yards in mid-winter. Rarely standing over 10″ tall, its spindly form, odd-shaped leaves, and small, purple tubular flowers make it very noticeable against the typically brown, dormant winter grass. Looking closely at it will reveal the oppositely placed leaves and square, hollow stem of the mint family. These stems are purplish in color throughout.  Multiple square stems from a taproot, to six to eighteen inches, purplish near bottom and greenish near the top. It spreads indefinitely in all directions. The leaves are hairy, scalloped, with flowers that are pale pink to purple to red and spotted on the lower lip with tiny purple hairs on the upper part of the flowers.  They have no scent, and even though the plant is in the mint family it does not have a minty smell to it.

It likes yards, waste ground, lawns, cultivated fields, pastures, roadsides, and railroads. It tolerates most soils and conditions. It will even grow under shrubs where grass will not.  Henbit is a winter annual, broadleaf weed that reproduces by seed that germinate in the fall or winter. Henbit grows during any period of warm weather that occurs in winter. It will resume growth and produce seed in the spring and dies as temperatures increase in late spring and early summer.  To control it dig or pull before it sets seeds.  In flower beds, a three-inch layer of mulch will discourage it.

Revenge can be yours by eating it.  It is full of good nutrients, can be used raw or as a potherb.  Flowers and stems are also edible.  There are no know toxic look- a-likes.  Don’t use it if you are not sure if herbicides or other toxins have been used where it is growing.  Early hummingbirds will seek out its nectar as will early emerging bumblebees.