All plants /Ground /Field Garlic
Field Garlic
Allium vineale, amaryllis family. Abundant in East and Central Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Hollow leaves and small bulbs
- How
- Anywhere chives or garlic belong
- When
- Cool months
- Where
- Lawns, fields, roadsides
- Value
- Onion-family flavor
Caution: THE ONION RULE HAS NO EXCEPTIONS: if it does not smell strongly of onion or garlic, do not eat it. Toxic look-alikes grow in the same lawns but have no smell. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
Round hollow grass-like leaves in a clump, and the giveaway: crush one and the whole plant must reek of garlic. No smell, no eating.
In the kitchen
The green tops are wild chives and the little bulbs are a sharp garlic; both go into anything savory.
Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.