LILY FAMILY LILIACEAE 
WILD GARLIC 
Allium canadense L. 
Of the several species of Allium that are cultivated, 
the most important are the English Garlic, the Chives and 
the common garden Onion, of which there are many 
varieties. All produce bulbs and 
all have the characteristic Onion 
odor. They are propagated by 
seeds or the small bulbs called 
sets. The bulb of Wild Garlic is 
covered by a netlike membrane. 
Wild Garlic is common in moist 
meadows and open woods from New 
Brunswick to Minnesota and south 
to Florida, Texas and Colorado. 
It blooms in May and June and 
often is very showy. The solitary 
bulb is usually less than 1 inch 
high. The flowering stem grows 
8-24 inches tall and the leaves, 
all basal, are ordinarily somewhat 
shorter. Just below the umbel 
are 2 or 3 white, broadly ovate 
bracts. 
The flowers are pink or white. 
The persistent perianth is com- 
posed of 6 similar and nearly separate parts, with a stamen, the 
filament of which is widened below, attached to the base of each 
part. The pistil consists of a 3-celled ovary, a slender style and 
3 small stigmas. The fruit is a capsule containing several black 
seeds. 
Often some or all of the flowers are replaced by bulblets. 
Another Wild Garlic, or Field Garlic, of southern and eastern 
counties is Allium vineale L., which has a very offensive odor and 
is thus an evil weed in pastures, for if eaten by cows it taints the 
milk and renders it worthless. From the very small and hard 
bulb, which is covered with a tough membrane, rise many soft, 
hollow leaves of dark green. The slender scape is very rigid and 
bears at the top a dense umbel of small greenish or purplish 
flowers. These are largely replaced by small, ovoid and hard 
bulblets of which each ends in a long threadlike appendage. 
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