Lamb's Quarters

Description

Chenopodium album, or lamb’s quarters, is an erect, branched, annual plant with whitish underbody leaves that are thin and coarsely toothed. The unstalked, tiny, inconspicuous flowers are light brown or faint green as they blossom in groups on spikes covered with meal between June and October (Erichsen-Brown 1979). The plant grows to 2 feet in height but should be harvested while young (approximately 10” in height) or only on the tender tips of older plants should it be used for food (Elias 1982).

History

While native to parts of Europe, Lamb’s quarters has become widespread in many parts of Canada, the U.S. (including Alaska), and Asia (Erichsen-Brown 1979). Although use of the plant for culinary or medicinal considerations is little at present, the peasants of Europe have used Lamb’s quarters in the past for exactly that (Le Strange 1977). Native American tribes of the Southwest have also been known to harvest the plant to be eaten raw or as meal or flour created from the seeds for baking into breads (Le Strange 1977).

Current Medicinal Uses

Leaves have been used to treat for stomach ache, and to prevent scurvy or vitamin C deficiencies given the high levels of vitamin C in the plant (Elias 1982). Cold tea has been used to treat diarrhea, while topical preparations of the leaves have been applied to bug bites and inflammatory joints (Duke 1985).

Adverse effects

Many of the species in this genus contain saponins, though usually in quantities too small to do any harm. Although toxic, saponins are poorly absorbed by the body and most pass straight through without any problem. They are also broken down to a large extent in the cooking process. Saponins are found in many foods, including beans. Hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of saponins in streams or lakes in order to stupefy or kill the fish (Bown 1995).

The plants, including Chenopodium album, also contain some oxalic acid, which in large quantities can interfere with absorption of nutrients in food, but these plants are otherwise very nutritious vegetables in smaller servings. Cooking the plant has been known to reduce its content of oxalic acid (Yadav 2003).

References

Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985.

Elias TS, Dykeman PA. Field Guide to North American Edible Wild Plants. Outdoor Life Books, New York, 1982.

Erichsen-Brown, Charlotte Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants: A Historical Survey with Special Reference to the Eastern Indian Tribes. Courier Dover Publications, 1989.

Le Strange, R. A History of Herbal Plants. Arco Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1977.

Wildflower Center of UT of Austin. http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ (Accessed on June 29, 2009) Search term: Chenopodium album.

Yadav, S. K., Sehgal, S. Effect of domestic processing and cooking on selected antinutrient contents of some green leafy vegetables. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. Volume 58, Number 3 / September, 2003

Disclaimer 

Information on this website is for educational purposes only. Many herbs historically used for medicine are considered too toxic to use today; some of these herbs have caused deaths. Do not ingest these herbs based on information on this website. We have not provided sufficient information for the safe medicinal use of any of these herbs, nor sufficient information for treatment of poisoning. All recreational use of these herbs is dangerous.