diff --git a/rust/lance-datafusion/src/planner.rs b/rust/lance-datafusion/src/planner.rs
index 1935b082b3d..625b8d782b2 100644
--- a/rust/lance-datafusion/src/planner.rs
+++ b/rust/lance-datafusion/src/planner.rs
@@ -839,6 +839,10 @@ impl Planner {
     /// Note: the returned expression must be passed through [optimize_filter()]
     /// before being passed to [create_physical_expr()].
     pub fn parse_expr(&self, expr: &str) -> Result<Expr> {
+        if self.schema.field_with_name(expr).is_ok() {
+            return Ok(col(expr));
+        }
+
         let ast_expr = parse_sql_expr(expr)?;
         let expr = self.parse_sql_expr(&ast_expr)?;
         let schema = Schema::try_from(self.schema.as_ref())?;