Lamb's Quarters

Chenopodium album

Illustration: Lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album) diamond leaves

Identification: Upright annual with DIAMOND-shaped toothed leaves dusted whitish underneath (like flour); mealy young growth; tall seed spikes in fall.

Dangerous look-alikes: No dangerous look-alike with the white-mealy coating — that flour-dust is the confirmation. (Nightshades lack it.)

Edible parts: Young leaves and shoots; seeds (as grain).

Season and habitat: Spring–summer (greens); fall (seeds). Gardens, disturbed soil, farms — everywhere.

Preparation: The premier wild green — milder than spinach, cook the same way. Seeds winnowed and cooked like quinoa (its close cousin). High in oxalates like spinach; rotate with other greens.

Notes: Often called 'wild spinach' — it out-produces the garden kind.