Know your Field Garlic

Know your Field Garlic - Introduction

• • Field garlic (Allium oleraceum) is a bulbous perennial that grows wild in dry places in northern Europe, reaching 80cm in height.

  • It reproduces by seed, bulbs and by the production of small bulblets in the flower head (similarly to the Wild OnionAllium vineale).

  • Unlike A. vineale however, it is very rare with Field garlic to find flower-heads containing bulbils only.

  • In addition, the spathe in Field garlic is in two parts.

Know your Field Garlic - Botany

• • Growing form: Perennial herb.

  • Height: 25–75 cm (10–30 in.). Stem oval, upper half leafless.

  • Flower: Long-stalked, often pendent, regular, bell-shaped, 4–5 mm wide. Tepals six, free, pale violet to brownish. Stamens six. Pistil of three fused carpels, ovary trilocular. Inflorescence a lax umbel with dark bulbils present between flowers. Umbel enclosed in bud within two long-beaked membranous bracts.

  • Leaves: Long and narrow (width 3–5 mm, 0.1–0.2 in.), almost thread-like, channelled. Base of leaf sheathing, stem-enclosing. Leaves wither soon.

  • Fruit: A capsule. Seeds though rarely produced.

  • Habitat: Rock outcrops, grassy hillsides, coppices.

  • Flowering time: July–August.

  • The umbel of the field garlic consists not only of a few long-stalked flowers but also of unstalked bulbils. They detach themselves, fall to the ground, and develop into new individuals. Seeds are rarely produced.

Know your Field Garlic - Distribution

• Field garlic is native to temperate Eurasia.

• It is native to Britain and is found in dry, grassy places, usually steeply sloping and calcareous soils, and on open sunny banks in river floodplains.

• It favours altitudes of 0-365m.

• A. oleraceum is scattered throughout England and very scattered in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

• Erosion of coastal areas leads to a reduction in the available habitat for this species, leading to population declines.

Know your Field Garlic - Position and Soil

• • This plant prefers partial or full exposure to sunlight.

  • Field Garlic tends to grow in slightly moist, heavy clay-like soil, although it will grow just fine in other soils.

  • This plant spreads quickly, much like a weed, and can be difficult to get rid of.

Know your Field Garlic - Cultivation

• • An easily grown plant, it prefers a sunny position in a light well-drained soil.

  • The bulbs should be planted fairly deeply.

  • Seed is rarely if ever produced in Britain.

  • The plant usually produces many small bulbils in the flowering head and these can spread themselves freely around the garden.

  • Grows well with most plants, especially roses, carrots, beet and chamomile, but it inhibits the growth of legumes.

  • This plant is a bad companion for alfalfa, each species negatively affecting the other.

  • Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.