Alliaria petiolata

Alliaria petiolata

Garlic mustard is a very invasive plant, and a large problem in many areas of the country. It is not a very common plant in my mountains, except for a few very tourist-laden towns and scout camps, where visitors come from far away places, and accidentally track in seeds in the mud on their shoes. I found in locally in a couple of those places. In the scout camp, is it becoming a serious problem, and taking up a large area there.

The leaves, flowers, and seed pods are edible, and taste a lot like garlic, the seeds more so than the leaves. They both have a strong flavor, so I would not want to eat large quantities alone, but it makes a good spice to flavor other food.

It can be identified by flowers, leaves and seed pods. The flowers are white and four-petaled. They develop into long seed pods, which are thin and four-angled. The leaves somewhat triangular or heart-shaped, with large teeth on the edges. The basal leaves which are lowest on the stem and the first to emerge from the ground are more rounded.

The plant resembles Cardamine cordifolia. The main difference is that the leaves of this plant are more toothed on the edges. Alliaria petiolata will grow everywhere, while Cardmine cordifolia grows in streams. And the taste is completely different.