Wild garlic Allium vineale L.
Family: Amaryllidaceae (formerly Liliaceae)
Life cycle: Perennial, reproduces by seed, bulbs, and aerial bulblets
Habitat: Small grain fields, turf
Native status:
General description: The plant is typically found in clumps, with upright leaves up to 24 inches tall. Leaves are slender, round and hollow. The plant flowers in late-spring, early summer, forming a ball-shaped inflorescence. Star-shaped flowers have six white petals. Many of the flowers may be replaced with aerial bulblets (approximately 0.2 inch diameter).
Key ID traits: Round, hollow leaves; aerial bulblets; garlic or onion smell.
Similar species: Wild onion has flat leaves that are not hollow. Star-of-Bethlehem leaves have a distinct white mid-rib and does not have the garlic smell.
Miscellaneous: Wild garlic is a serious problem in small grains because the aerial bulblets mature at the same time as the crop and the bulblets are difficult to separate from grain. The presence of bulblets causes a significant dockage in price. Milk from dairy cows grazing on pastures infested with wild garlic takes on a garlicky flavor.
- Retired Weed Scientist and Professor of Agronomy
- Field Agronomist in Central Iowa