Garlic Mustard
[Alliaria petiolata (Bieb.) Cavara & Grande]
Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)
seedlings ▲▼
young plants ▲▼
flowering plants ▲▼
flowers and seeds ▲▼
▲ senescing/drying plants
▲ dried fruit
▲▼ large colonies (toward top of hill in lower photo) near Minneapolis, MN
Garlic Mustard:
· new weed in Southwest Missouri, spreading rapidly
· biennial or winter annual weed, germinating in late fall to late winter, flowering in mid to late spring and dying by summer
· first year rosette leaves are dark green and kidney shaped with scalloped edges and 2-3" in diameter
· flowering stem-leaves are alternate, sharply toothed, and triangular in shape
· leaves produce a distinct garlic odor when crushed, although mature plants have less odor.
· flowers are white in clusters at the top of the plant
· reproduces very rapidly by seed, rapidly replacing native plants
· found in moist, fertile soils, wetland areas, open woodlands and savannahs