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The Invasive, Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
Garlic Mustard Links -
Leaves:Dark green - shape variable. Young leaves (seedling and pre-flowering plants) consistently heart-shaped with scalloped margins. Mature leaves (when plant is in flower or in seed) vary from heart-shaped to triangular and leaf margins vary from scalloped to coarsely-toothed. Late season, second-year plants have deeply cut veins and leaf stalk is as long as, or longer than the blades of the leaf.
Flowers:
Flowering plants of garlic mustard reach from 2 to 3 -1/2 feet in height and produce buttonlike clusters of small white flowers from mid-May through June. The flowers are 12 mm (0.5 in) diameter, each with four petals in the shape of a cross. Seed pods appear soon after flowers.
Habitat:Floodplains, riverbanks, woods edges, and woodlands. Often spreads along trails and other disturbed areas. Prefers moist, rich soils with some shade.
Life History:First year plants stay green through the winter. Plants bolt in early spring of their second year, produce seeds, and then die.
Other: All parts of the plant smell like garlic. Garlic mustard was first recorded in the United States about 1868, from Long Island, New York. It was likely introduced by settlers for food or medicinal purposes.
Ecological Threat:
Garlic mustard, an early spring competitor invades forest communities where it monopolizes light, moisture and soil nutrients, resulting in aggressive domination of the ground layer. It is a severe threat to many natural areas where it occurs because of its ability to exclude many native herbaceous species. Wildlife species that depend on these early plants for their foliage, pollen, nectar, fruits, seeds and roots, are deprived of these essential food sources when garlic mustard replaces them. Humans are also deprived of the vibrant display of beautiful spring wildflowers. Garlic mustard is hard to eradicate because a single plant can produce thousands of seeds, which scatter as much as several meters from the parent plant and can survive for five or more years in the soil.
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