Purple Deadnettle And Others

There is a new plant that has been popping up in our area over the last decade that we had not seen before. The plant is short, only about 6 inches in height and blooms pretty pink flowers on stocks that are square instead of round. It seems to take over spots along the driveway and in the garden in the late winter months and has begun blooming for the year. Investigation has led me to believe it is a ‘weed’ that is a native to Eurasia, has been prevalent in the Eastern US for quite a while and now has found its way to the Western half of the country.

It comes by many names, Lamium purpureum, red dead-nettle, purple dead-nettle, purple archangel, or velikdenche,  and is a herbaceous flowering plant.

According to Brooklyn Botanic Garden website:

Few wild plants are hardy enough to emerge in April. The ground has only recently thawed and most are waiting for just the right amount of consistent warmth and moisture before coming up. But purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) takes advantage of the open expanses of soil and lack of competition. This common weedy plant is a member of the mint family and forms early groundcover mats, with fuzzy, spade-shaped leaves and delicate purple-pink flowers, a lovely addition to a spring weed bouquet.

You may see it on the edges of an empty lot, taking over mulched tree pits, or growing in patches across still-bare lawns. Its close relative, henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), has identical flowers but more scallop-shaped leaves and also appears in April. While the leaves of both Lamium species do resemble those in the nettle family, these mints are actually unrelated to true nettles and have no sting, making them “dead.” As with all members of the mint family, they have a telltale square-shaped stem, though neither possesses quite the fragrance or culinary potential of their more popular cousins. At best, you can add the younger leaves to a spring green salad or sauté mix.

An important early food source for hungry pollinators, purple deadnettle and henbit also self-pollinate, ensuring their reproduction regardless of whether they have bee visitors. You can elect to yank these shallow-rooted and easy to pull early pioneers to make way for your spring planting, or you can let them be and enjoy a few weeks of their purples and greens. When the weather heats up, both will yellow and wither, waiting for the cooler days of fall before reemerging.

I have tried purple dead nettle before and the flowers are sweet and now that I know the relative weed of henbit is also edible, I’m going to go out to see what I can find. Since I like to dabble with spring greens that I can forage, I am going to try a salad made with miners lettuce (if I can find some this early in the season) and purple deadnettle and henbit, I’m thinking it could be dressed with a simple vinaigrette made with a hint of rosemary, it should be delightful.

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