Garlic Mustard...A Stinking Invasive Weed
DESCRIPTION:
Garlic mustard is a cool-season biennial herb that ranges from 12 to 48 inches in height as an adult flowering plant. Leaves and stems emit the distinctive odor of onion or garlic when crushed (particularly in spring and early summer), and help distinguish the plant from all other woodland mustard plants. First year plants consist of a cluster of 3 or 4 round, scallop edged leaves rising 2 to 4 inches in a rosette. Second-year plants generally produce one or two flowering stems with numerous white flowers that have four separate petals. Garlic mustard is the only plant of this height in our woods with white flowers in May. Fruits are slender capsules 1 to 2.5 inches long that produce a single row of oblong black seeds with ridged seed coats. Stem leaves are alternate and triangular in shape, have large teeth, and can be 2 to 3 inches across in fruiting plants. Petioles are longer on the leaves towards the base. Garlic mustard can also be distinguished by its uproot, which is slender, white, and "s"-shaped at the top of the root.
Life History and Effects of Invasion