Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

One of the plants with a toehold in the wild corner of the garden (with a few stragglers that have made it into the main bed as well) is Garlic Mustard. Having come from North America, where this plant is a major invasive problem, I was ready to yank out every last one. But here on its native turf it's a reasonably well-behaved biennial, so we've let it be. Last year, these plants were low-growing rosettes of green leaves. This year, they've shot upwards, crowned with the four-petalled flowers that show them to be members of the family Brassicaceae (the cabbages and mustards). Despite the fact that they have a scientific name that means "onion-like" — and smell strongly of garlic — they're not related to either onions or garlic.

We're leaving the plants in place because they're the larval food source for the Orange Tip and the Green-veined White (two butterflies we see regularly in the garden) and for the Garden Carpet (a moth we caught in our trap several times last year). In fact, nearly 70 species of various sorts are known to feed on the plant, at least seven fungus species are associated with it, and hoverflies and midges take nectar from the flowers. Humans too have been known to munch on it. Garlic Mustard is one of Europe's oldest spices, with evidence of it being used as long ago as 4100 BC; ancient pottery from Germany and Denmark contains traces of the plant. European colonists took it with them to the New World when they settled there, using it for both food and medicine. The leaves and seeds are still eaten today, though its medicinal uses (as a diuretic and disinfectant, and sometimes for the treatment of wounds) have fallen by the wayside. Garlic Mustard is found in hedgerows and along wood edges throughout the UK, particularly in England and Wales. Now we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for caterpillars.