Garlic Mustard Wild Edible Identification Uses & Nutrition
Garlic Mustard
(Alliaria petiolata)
Other names :
⦁ Jack-by-the-hedge
⦁ garlic Mustard
⦁ Garlic Root
⦁ Hedge Garlic
⦁ Sauce-alone
⦁ Jack-in-the-bush
⦁ Penny Hedge
⦁ Poor Man's Mustard
Alliaria petiolata is a biennial flowering plant in the Mustard family, Brassicaceae. It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, and northwestern Africa, from Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern Pakistan and western China.
Identification:
Garlic mustard - Alliaria petiolata - Biennial or winter annual herb that typically grows to about 3 feet tall, but can be anywhere from a few inches to over 6 feet tall depending on conditions.
Plants are usually single-stemmed, but may have more stems if they were cut.
Small, white 4-petaled flowers appear in early spring and are in clusters at the top of the stem.
First year plants are low-growing rosettes with rounded, kidney-shaped leaves, scalloped on the edges.
First Year Garlic Mustard
Leaves are not noticeably fuzzy or hairy (unlike most look-alike species).
Upper leaves on mature plants are more triangular, becoming smaller toward the top of the plant, coarsly toothed Plants often smell like garlic, especially when leaves are crushed.
Each plant usually produces one flowering stem. If a plant is cut or stepped on, many stems will form.
Roots typically have a characteristic s-shaped bend
DO NOT CONFUSE WITH THIS PLANT:
THIS PLANT IS Heracleum mantegazzianum, commonly known as giant hogweed AND IS POISONOUS AND CAUSES SEVERE CHEMICAL BURNS IF YOU TOUCH IT!!
Watch the video about Garlic Mustard: Garlic Mustard A Tasty & Healthy Wild Edible
Written by guest author Jen
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Troy Reid |
