Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard): Minnesota Wildflowers

Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard)

Plant Info
Also known as:
Genus:	Alliaria
Family:	Brassicaceae (Mustard)
Life cycle:	biennial
Origin:	Europe
Status:	Invasive - ERADICATE! Noxious Weed
Habitat:	part shade, shade; woods, edges of woods, along roads
Bloom season:	May - June
Plant height:	1 to 4 feet
County distribution (click map to enlarge):
Spotted in Ramsey County at:	Battle Creek Regional Park Long Lake Regional Park Rice Creek Trail Corridor Vadnais/Snail Lake Regional Park

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Detailed Information

Flower:

Flowers are in a rounded cluster 1 to 3 inches across, at the top of the plant. Individual flowers are about 1/3 inch across, 4 rounded white petals and short green stamens with greenish yellow tips. The cluster elongates as the plant matures.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves in second year plants are up to 3 inches long and wide, generally kidney to heart shaped with large rounded irregular teeth and leaf stalks that become shorter as leaves ascend the stem. Leaves at the top of the plant are smaller and typically more triangular. The leaves smell like garlic when crushed. First year plants have just a rosette of smaller round or kidney shaped leaves with scalloped edges. Leaves may be hairless or hairy to varying degrees; stems are likewise hairy to varying degrees.

Fruit:

Fruit is a thin pod to 2 inches long, containing a single row of numerous black seeds. The pods usually curve up, but may be more horizontal.

Notes:

Garlic Mustard is a highly aggressive invasive species. One plant produces hundreds of seeds and can infest an area within just a few years. I've seen plants as short as 2 inches tall flower and bear fruit. It forms large colonies, crowding out native species and destroying habitat and food source for wildlife. It prefers the dappled sunlight of wooded areas, but may grow in sunnier locations. First year seedlings might be mistaken for violets or Creeping Charlie. Of note is that this species is far more widespread than the county distribution map indicates. For example, it is all over Ramsey County, but only a few herbarium records have been collected in the SW corner of the county. It is likely found throughout the SE part of the state, but few records have been collected so far.

In spring 2008 I discovered the first Garlic Mustard growing at Long Lake Regional Park and took on the job of trying to eradicate it before it became a blight. After 3 years of hand pulling, it was just about gone. :-) The bad news is, there is a big infestation across the railroad tracks on the north side of the park so it is only a matter of time before there is another invasion, one too big for one person to handle. Heavy sigh.

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More photos

Photos taken at Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park, Coon Rapids, MN May 2007 and 2008

Comments

Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?

Posted by: Linda
on: 2008-06-02 11:33:23

I noted that you are trying to eradicate garlic mustard (a very nice edible plant) from your park.

Isn't there some way you can allow people (who eat wild foods, such as myself) to "eradicate" it for you from the park?

There are many wild edible plants that can be used by hungry people (such as myself) and which can be "eradicated" for you for free.

Posted by: K Chayka
on: 2008-06-02 14:07:46

Hello Linda,
Thank you very much for your message. It never occurred to me that garlic mustard might be beneficial in any way. I certainly have no objection to people harvesting it for food, and am glad of any assistance in ridding local parks of the stuff.

I just want to mention, though, that I am not working on my own to control this invasive species in my favorite park, but in cooperation with Ramsey County Parks and Recreation. I volunteered to stop the spread at Long Lake Park while it is still possible to control it, and am doing it with their permission. However, there are many other parks in Ramsey County that have widespread populations of the stuff. There is plenty of garlic mustard to go around, and no doubt will be for many years.

Harvesting garlic mustard as food does have to be done correctly to prevent spreading it any more than it already does. Let me know how I can help. And thanks again for writing

Posted by: randy b.
on: 2008-06-18 22:16:07

This plant is horrible. You can't possibly eat it all. It is taking over Crosby Park in St. Paul. In the last two years it has increased rapidly.

I am seeing it all over so I don't know how we can get rid of it all. I pulled three big garbage bags from the hill behind my home this spring and there was still more. I caught it while it was flowering but I know it will be back again next year.

Posted by: Meredith in Shoreview
on: 2010-05-06 16:22:38

I found this down by the marsh also known as Lake Martha, that is behind my house. Now that I know what it is im going to dig out what I can since its still in a pretty contained area. Hopefully it hasn't dropped many seeds yet.

Posted by: K. Chayka
on: 2010-05-06 17:27:26

It should be fairly easy to uproot without digging. The taproot isn't that long, unless it is a really large plant. It's been suggested that you might actually compost this stuff green in a plastic bag. Any seed that's already forming should just rot, as long as you keep it bagged long enough. Don't put it in the regular compost because that might not generate enough heat to kill the seed.

What I've been doing is pulling off any flowering parts, uprooting the flowering plants and just leaving the carcass on site, often draped over nearby buckthorn (it's good for something, anyway!). I've only bagged up any seed that was already forming and throwing that little bit in the trash. This has worked pretty well so far.

If you do leave uprooted plants on site, be sure to pull off any buds or flowers because it could still use stored up energy in the rest of the plant to create seed.

Posted by: rickdog in Minnetonka
on: 2010-05-06 19:48:53

I just mowed down a thousand plants on my property. For recipes and cooking instructions: http://www.patapscoheritagegreenway.org/garlic07/index.html

Posted by: Esther in St Anthony Park (St Paul)
on: 2010-05-20 21:58:27

A single plant (so far) under my apple tree.

Posted by: Davydd in Tonka Bay, Hennepin County
on: 2011-07-13 16:47:01

I've been hand pulling garlic mustard on my 1-1/2 wooded acre lot and am just now getting ahead of it. Unfortunately, it is also on adjacent properties so will come back again and again. With a rainy spring and soft wet ground it has been very easy to pull.

I noticed a billboard on I-494 in Minnetonka that had a public service message to pull garlic mustard by June 28. Granted, it is easier to spot and pull in the spring when it is flowering but hopefully anytime before the seeds disperse is good.

We leave our property totally natural as a wooded setting with forest and wildflower clearings, and we back up to a wetland that is partially private and city owned.