Plantago lanceolata, Plantago major, Plantago media - Plantains: Very common 'weeds' in lawns. The lawn can be cut as often as you like and as short as you like without causing them any inconvenience at all, and they'll send up a flowering stem that is almost immune to the cutting abilities of many lawn- mowers! Use the young leaves only, either in salads or cooked.
Prunella vulgaris - Self-Heal: Able to tolerate regular cutting, though preferably not too short, and still flower. The flowers are very attractive to bees. It prefers a moist soil and doesn't really like a chalky soil. Young leaves can be eaten cooked or raw. Medicinally it is used to treat cuts and bruises.
Sanguisorba minor - Salad Burnet: This plant is occasionally cultivated in the herb garden but grows very well in the lawn especially if the grass is allowed to get a little bit longer than usual. The young leaves are eaten in salads, many people saying that they taste somewhat like cucumbers. It prefers a chalky soil and will flower between May and August.
Taraxacum officinale - Dandelion: A superb plant for growing in the lawn, able to tolerate regular cutting and constant trampling. The quality of the leaves will be better if the grass is allowed to grow a little longer than usual, but this is not essential. It will manage to flower even if cut regularly, and a lawn of dandelions in flower is a beautiful sight in the spring, though it will produce the odd flower at other times of the year. The leaves are extremely nutritious and are best eaten raw though they can also be cooked. The roots are a coffee substitute should you ever find that you've got too many plants in the lawn.
Trifolium repens - White Clover: Another misnamed weed. White Clover flowers and flourishes even when cut regularly and short. It is an important food source for many caterpillars, the flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies, and we can eat the leaves - raw or cooked - and the flowers and pods. It is an excellent companion plant in the lawn since it can supply nitrogen to other plants with the help of bacteria in the root nodules.
information courtesy:
Planst For a Future
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