Wild garlic (Allium vineale)

Common Names: Crow garlic, Stag's garlic, Field garlic, Scallions, Wild onion

Description: Most aggressive of the Allium species. Unlike native Allium, it has leaves that are hollow at the base. Some species produce only flowers while other produce aerial bulblets. It has a strong flavor and odor when using as a garlic substitute. This species is listed under Regulation No. 715 - Seed Law Implementation as a restricted noxious weed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

Habit: Grass-like, bulb-forming perennial that emits a strong garlic or onion smell when crushed.

Leaves: Basal leaves emerge from bulbs and are 1/2-2 feet long and 2-10 mm wide, slender, smooth, hollow, and nearly round in cross section. Stem leaves are produced along the lower half of the stem, and are composed of a tubular sheath.

Stems: Flowering stems are the only stems that occur. They are smooth, waxy stems are erect, unbranched, slender and rounded, and can grow from 1 - 3.5 feet high. Stems are solid and become rigid with age.

Flowers: Produced at the top of the flowering stems. Greenish-white in color, small, and on short stems above the globe of aerial bulblets. Aerial bulblets are ovoid, often wholly or partially replace the flowers, and are usually tipped by a long, fragile slender green leaf.

Fruit and seeds: Fruits are an egg-shaped, 3-parted capsule. Seeds are 1/8 inch long, flattened on one side, dull black and wrinkled.

Habitat: Native to Eurasia. Grows well in a wide variety of soils and is common in grain fields, pastures, meadows, lawns, gardens, and waste places, as well as along roads, rivers and streams.

Reproduction: Reproduces underground and by aerial bulblets, and less frequently by seed.

Similar species: Native wild onion, sometimes called wild garlic (Allium canadense) can be distinguished by the fibrous-matted coating on the bulb, flattened solid leaves, star-shaped pink or whitish flowers and an onion-like taste. Wild onion also does not produce underground bulblets.

Monitoring and rapid response: Can be effectively controlled using any of several readily available general use herbicides such as 2,4-D or Dicamba.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide, Illinoiswildflowers.info and the Ohio State University Perennial & Biennial Weed Guide.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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