Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album)
Lamb’s quarters is an annual forb that is found around abandoned farms, old homesteads and disturbed areas throughout the Great Plains.
Lamb’s quarters is a light green plant that appears dusty in appearance due to a white coating on the goosefoot-shaped leaves. The plant has lateral branches and can reach a height of 6 feet in good growing conditions, but generally reaches 2 to 3 feet.
- Is thought to have originated in Eurasia and was used as a source of food and medicine by early pioneers and Native Americans
- Is also known as white goosefoot and pigweed, but should not be confused with the plant known as red-root pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus)
- Seeds contain saponins and the leaves contain oxalic acid. If consumed in large portions, can be poisonous
- Has been reported to cause sickness and death in cattle, horses and pigs
Lamb’s Quarters can be controlled, if needed, by a timely application of herbicide.
Editor’s note: Kent Ferguson, retired rangeland management specialist from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is providing us with plant identification photo stories to help ranchers identify those forbs, forages and species growing in the pastures. Additional photos provided by USDA NRCS.
Lamb’s Quarters is excerpted from the July 2015 issue of The Cattleman magazine.