While my husband was filling out paperwork to buy a van in Charlotte, NC last week, I was checking out the abundant little wildflowers (otherwise known as weeds) in the grassy strip around the parking lot. The most obvious was Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule.
Henbit grows in the Watchung Mountains where I live, but for whatever reason not in my own yard. I always think of it as the pink-flowered Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea, though it doesn't have such long runners. They share the heart-shaped, round-toothed leaves, the square stems, and the irregular, mint-style flowers at the ends of stems.
Del Tredici (p. 234) says the young shoots are edible. Elpel (p. 148) agrees, and says it is used as an astringent and expectorant.
The color is a lovely fuchsia, with buds that are nearly red. I have some cultivated Lamium as well, planted 20 years ago as a ground cover by my mother.
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