Wild Garlic
I learned about this plant shortly after buying my property in early 2008 but never did any research on it. I was told that it was wild onion, but upon closer inspection, I think it is wild garlic, which is in the same family. I would have to see it in flower to be certain. The common names are interchangeable, but wild onion is allium canadense while wild garlic is allium vineale. A common name for it is Crow Garlic. Flowers tell the difference, of course, but one characteristic that helps distinguish the two is that wild garlic has hollow round stems while wild onion has flat stems. It is a native of Europe, North Africa, and western Asia and was introduced to North America, where it is considered an invasive pest, particularly by dairy farmers, because when cows graze on the plant, it gives their milk a garlic flavor. Herbal uses for the plant include reducing blood pressure and blood cholesterol, if ingested on a regular basis.
Crow Garlic (allium vineale)
Are there bulbs on it like regular garlic? I love garlic so of course I’m wondering if you can eat it!
This is nice Jeff, writing about these things.
Thank you for all the wonderful information on these plants, Jeff. I’ve already learned a lot I didn’t know from reading your posts. We have a lot of these wild onion/garlic plants in our yard. I had assumed that it was all wild onion, but I’ll have to take a closer look now. I do know that they are not easy to pull up, as I have attempted to yank them out of my flower gardens many times. 🙂