Recognize wild garlic by its appearance and smell
The leaves and flowers of the wild garlic reach a height of about 20 to 50 centimeters and grow out of an elongated onion in the ground when the snowmelt in March. The fresh green leaves are pointed at the ends and have a longitudinal grain. In May, the white wild garlic flowers, which are grouped into round balls, appear, so that entire clearings in the forest often turn into a green and white wild garlic carpet. You can recognize the wild garlic relatively clearly if you crush the leaf and rub it between your fingers. Bear's garlic gives off an odor that is noticeably reminiscent of garlic. Wild garlic can be confused with poisonous neighbors in the form of:
- lily of the valley
- Autumn crocus
- younger, unspotted specimens of the spotted arum
also read
- The wild garlic in spring: a season full of delicious recipe ideas
- The fox tapeworm as a danger when consuming wild garlic
- Is the wild garlic poisonous?
The difference between wild garlic and lily of the valley
Visually, the leaves of lily of the valley and wild garlic differed little. Precise identification would be easier when both plants bloom in May, but because of the even more aromatic taste, wild garlic is usually harvested before the wild garlic bloom. The only way to minimize the risk of confusion is to smell the leaves. If you rub several leaves one after the other between your fingers to determine the type of plant, you should wash your hands well in between. Otherwise you could still confuse the two species if, in a lily of the valley sample, you perceive the garlic odor stuck to your hands from a previous sample with wild garlic as belonging to the current sample.
Autumn crocus and wild garlic in comparison
The leaves of autumn crocus that sprout in spring also look deceptively similar to those of wild garlic and can sometimes grow close to each other. To distinguish the highly poisonous autumn crocus from the tasty wild garlic, an odor test of the grated leaves is necessary. While the wild garlic smells strongly of garlic, the leaf of the autumn crocus is almost odorless. Since both types of plants can also grow in mixed stands, even experienced wild garlic collectors should be very careful when searching.
The spotted arum
Confusing wild garlic with the young leaves of the spotted arum would also be fatal, after all, consuming it can lead to fatal poisoning. However, young arum leaves that do not yet have the characteristic arrow shape can be visually differentiated from wild garlic. Their leaf veins do not run in the longitudinal direction as in wild garlic, but in irregular directions and not parallel veins.
Tips
Inexperienced herbalists should keep their hands off wild-harvested wild garlic when in doubt. Wild garlic from your own planting or from a dealer usually eliminates the risk of mix-ups as far as possible.
