LILY FAMILY 



LILIACEAE 



WILD GARLIC 



Allium canadcnse 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 ]VIinnesota 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 i inch 



high. The flowering stem grows 



8-24 inches tall and the leaves, 



ail 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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