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It's one of the oldest discovered spices to be used in cooking in Europe. Evidence of its use has been found from archeological remains found in the Baltic, dating back to 6100-5750 [[Before_Present|BP]].<ref>{{cite journal
It's one of the oldest discovered spices to be used in cooking in Europe. Evidence of its use has been found from archeological remains found in the Baltic, dating back to 6100-5750 [[Before_Present|BP]].<ref>{{cite journal
| last=Saul | first=Hayley
| last=Saul | first=Hayley
| authorlink = http://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/research/former-phd/hayley_saul/
| coauthors = Madella M, Fischer A, Glykou A, Hartz S, et al
| coauthors = Madella M, Fischer A, Glykou A, Hartz S, et al
| title = Phytoliths in Pottery Reveal the Use of Spice in European Prehistoric Cuisine
| title = Phytoliths in Pottery Reveal the Use of Spice in European Prehistoric Cuisine

Revision as of 09:58, 22 August 2013

Garlic Mustard
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Brassicales
Family:
Brassicaceae
Genus:
Alliaria
Species:
A. petiolata
Binomial name
Alliaria petiolata

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a biennial flowering plant in the Mustard family, Brassicaceae. It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, and northwestern Africa, from Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern India and western China (Xinjiang).[1] In the first year of growth, plants form clumps of round shaped, slightly wrinkled leaves, that when crushed smell like garlic. The next year plants flower in spring, producing cross shaped white flowers in dense clusters. As the flowering stems bloom they elongate into a spike-like shape. When blooming is complete, plants produce upright fruits that release seeds in mid-summer. Plants are often found growing along the margins of hedgerows, giving rise to the old British folk name of Jack-by-the-hedge. Other common names include Garlic Root, Hedge Garlic, Sauce-alone, Jack-in-the-bush, Penny Hedge and Poor Man's Mustard. The genus name Alliaria, "resembling Allium", refers to the garlic-like odour of the crushed foliage.

Some people give the species name Alliaria officinalis for this plant.[2]

Description

It is a herbaceous biennial plant growing from a deeply growing, thin, white taproot that is scented like horseradish. In the first year, plants appear as a rosette of green leaves close to the ground; these rosettes remain green through the winter and develop into mature flowering plants the following spring. Second year plants grow from 30–100 cm (rarely to 130 cm) tall. The leaves are stalked, triangular to heart-shaped, 10–15 cm long (of which about half being the petiole) and 5–9 cm broad, with a coarsely toothed margin. The flowers are produced in spring and summer in button-like clusters. Each small flower has four white petals 4–8 mm long and 2–3 mm broad, arranged in a cross shape. The fruit is an erect, slender, four-sided pod 4 to 5.5 cm long,[3] called a silique, green maturing pale grey-brown, containing two rows of small shiny black seeds which are released when the pod splits open. A single plant can produce hundreds of seeds, which scatter as much as several meters from the parent plant.

Depending upon conditions, garlic mustard flowers either self-fertilize or are cross-pollinated by a variety of insects. Self-fertilized seeds are genetically identical to the parent plant, enhancing its ability to colonize an area where that genotype is suited to thrive.[4]

Close-up of Garlic Mustard flowers
Fruits and seeds

Cultivation and uses

It's one of the oldest discovered spices to be used in cooking in Europe. Evidence of its use has been found from archeological remains found in the Baltic, dating back to 6100-5750 BP.[5]

The chopped leaves are used for flavoring in salads and sauces such as pesto, and sometimes the flowers and fruit are included as well. These are best when young, and provide a mild flavour of both garlic and mustard. The seeds are sometimes used to season food directly in France.[6]

Garlic mustard was once used medicinally[7] as a disinfectant or diuretic, and was sometimes used to heal wounds.[6]

In Europe as many as 69 species of insects and seven species of fungus utilize Garlic Mustard as a food plant, including the larvae of some Lepidoptera species such as the Garden Carpet moth.[citation needed]

As an invasive species

Garlic mustard was introduced in North America as a culinary herb in the 1860s and is an invasive species in much of North America. As of 2006, it is listed as a noxious or restricted plant in the US states of Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington.[8] Like most invasive plants, once it has an introduction into a new location, it persists and spreads into undisturbed plant communities. In many areas of its introduction in Eastern North America, it has become the dominant under-story species in woodland and flood plain environments, where eradication is difficult.[9]

The insects and fungi that feed on it in its native habitat are not present in North America, increasing its seed productivity and allowing it to out-compete native plants.

Garlic Mustard produces allelochemicals which suppress mycorrhizal fungi that most plants, including native forest trees, require for optimum growth.[10] However, allelochemicals produced by Garlic Mustard do not affect mycorrhizal fungi from Garlic Mustard's native range, indicating that this "novel weapon" in the invaded range explains Garlic Mustard's success in North America.[11] Additionally, because white-tailed deer rarely feed on Garlic Mustard, large deer populations may help to increase its population densities by consuming competing native plants. Trampling by browsing deer encourages additional seed growth by disturbing the soil. Seeds contained in the soil can germinate up to five years after being produced.[12] The persistence of the seed bank and suppression of mycorrhizal fungi both complicate restoration of invaded areas because long-term removal is required to deplete the seed bank and allow recovery of mycorrhizae.[13]

Garlic mustard produces a variety of secondary compounds including flavonoids, defense proteins, glycosides, and glucosinolates that reduce its palatability to herbivores.[14][15][16] Research published in 2007 shows that, in northeastern forests, garlic mustard rosettes increased the rate of native leaf litter decomposition, increasing nutrient availability and possibly creating conditions favorable to garlic mustard's own spread.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Flora Europaea". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
  2. ^ Lawrence Newcomb (1977). Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 138–139.
  3. ^ "Invader of the Month - Garlic Mustard - Alliaria petiolata" (PDF). Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  4. ^ PCA Alien Plant Working Group - Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
  5. ^ Saul, Hayley (21 August 2013). "Phytoliths in Pottery Reveal the Use of Spice in European Prehistoric Cuisine". PLOS ONE. PLOS. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070583. ISSN 1932-6203. Retrieved 22 August 2013. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  6. ^ a b Gualtiero Simonetti (1990). Stanley Schuler (ed.). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Herbs and Spices. Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-671-73489-X.
  7. ^ "Plants For A Future: Database Search Results". Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  8. ^ plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=alpe4; PLANTS Profile for Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) | USDA PLANTS]
  9. ^ Luken, James O., and John W. Thieret. 1997. Assessment and management of plant invasions. Springer series on environmental management. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-94809-6 Page 117.
  10. ^ Stinson KA, Campbell SA, Powell JR, Wolfe BE, Callaway RM; et al. (2006). "Invasive Plant Suppresses the Growth of Native Tree Seedlings by Disrupting Belowground Mutualisms". PLoS Biology. 4 (5): e140. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040140. PMC 1440938. PMID 16623597. Retrieved 24 May 2007. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  11. ^ Callaway RM et al. 2008. Novel weapons: Invasive plant suppresses fungal mutualists in America but not in its native Europe. Ecology 89:1043-1055
  12. ^ Garlic Mustard. Plant Conservation Alliance Alien Working Group. Accessed on 14 July 2007. [1]
  13. ^ Anderson RC, Anderson MR, Bauer JT, Slater M, Herold JM, Baumhardt VA. 2010. Effect of removal of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata Brassicaceae) on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi inoculum potential in forest soils. Open Ecology Journal 3:41-47 http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toecolj/articles/V003/41TOECOLJ.pdf
  14. ^ Isovitexin 6″-O-β-d-glucopyranoside: A feeding deterrent to Pieris napi oleracea from Alliaria petiolata. Meena Haribal and J. Alan A. Renwick, Phytochemistry, Volume 47, Issue 7, April 1998, Pages 1237-1240, doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(97)00740-1
  15. ^ Daxenbichler ME, Spencer GF, Carlson DG, Rose GB, Brinker AM, Powell RG. 1991.Glucosinolate composition of seeds from297 species of wild plants. Phytochemistry 30: 2623–2638.
  16. ^ CipolliniD. 2002.Variation in the expression of chemical defenses in Alliaria petiolata (Brassicaceae) in the field and common garden. American Journal of Botany 89: 1422–1430.
  17. ^ Vikki L. Rodgers, Benjamin E. Wolfe, Leland K. Werden1 and Adrien C. Finzi (2008). "The invasive species Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) increases soil nutrient availability in northern hardwood-conifer forests". Oecologia. 157 (3): 459–71. doi:10.1007/s00442-008-1089-8. PMID 18612654.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alliaria petiolata.
Wikiversity has bloom time data for Alliaria petiolata on the Bloom Clock
Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Alliaria petiolata.

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