Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Garlic Mustard
I found this alien wildflower flourishing in a marsh outside Stuarts Draft, Virginia.
I say "found," but this was not a case of my almost stepping on some tiny, retiring lily hidden in the leaf litter.
(Two examples of two almost mashed wildflowers are the Field Pansy and Wild Geranium.)
No, this tall, erect-growing flowering herb announces its presence from some distance away.
Reaching as high as thirty-nine inches, Garlic Mustard towers above most other herbaceous forest flora—More about that later.
It is also called Hedge Mustard, or Jack-in-the-Hedge, depending upon the locale.
Its bright, white blossoms, although relatively small, seem larger, displayed as they are within a frame of twiggy, immature seed pods called siliques.
These spiky extensions seem to cradle the tiny blooms in a protective cage.
The heavily veined, heart-shaped leaves give off a mild garlic scent when crushed. (The botanical prefix Alliaria means like Allium or the Garlic family.)
Used as a spice, the leaves are reputed to be a tasty addition to salads and pasta dishes. In fact, it is believed that this plant was first imported as a table herb. But Alliaria petiolata has a number of useful applications beyond the kitchen.
In herbal medicine, extracts from the stems have been used in the treatment of gangrene, as well as for skin ulcers and throat infections. It continued to be recommended by practitioners of herbal medicine well into the 20th century.
It was its expansive root system that seemed to recommend its use as an effective barrier against erosion, which led to its being planted for that purpose in Canada and the United States in the late nineteenth century.
But, as has been the case on several occasions, introduction of an alien species to this continent led to the proverbial "unintended consequences" that far outweighed the desirable attributes of the immigrant flora. (Other nonnative plants introduced for erosion control that have become a threat to native flora and to agriculture are Autumn Olive and Rosa Multiflora.)
In its native habitat, across Europe and the British Isles, Alliaria petiolata has numerous insects and fungi to keep it under control. It is not categorized as an invasive plant in Great Britain.
But, because there are no "significant natural enemies [in North America, it] is able to out-compete...many of our native species with its high seed productivity and monopolization of resources."
(Not only does it produce a lot of seed, they are propelled ballistically as far as ten feet from the mother plant. (Other ballistic seed dispersers in the Gallery are Hairy Bittercress and Touch-me-not.)
Standing tall, above the low growing native plants like
Wild Geranium, it
also blocks access to the sun with its thick foliage (See above.) And
not the least of its assets as an invasive immigrant, it is
allelopathic: It
releases poisons
that inhibit growth by other
flora.
Unfortunately, these attributes, along with the lack of natural controls on this continent, have allowed this medicinal herb-cum-erosion control plant to displace a number of native flora in shady forest under-story habitats across North America.
So severe is its negative impact in some forests that it has been declared an "ecological blight" in 34 states and 3 provinces. A number of state university and departments of agricultural have instigated eradication campaigns against this plant.
Sometimes "pretty is" doesn't necessarily mean "pretty does!"
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