GARLIC (AS. garleac, from gar, spear + /Jac, leek, so called from the shape of the leaves), sativum. A bulbous-rooted plant, native of the East, cultivated from the earliest ages. The stem rises to the height of about two feet, is unbranched, and bears at the top an umbel of a few whitish flowers, mixed with many small bulbs. The leaves are grass-like, obscurely keeled, and not fistulous like those of the onion. The bulb, which is the part eaten, consists of about twelve to fifteen ovate-oblong cloves or sub ordinate bulbs. It has a penetrating and power ful onion-like odor and taste. It is in general use as a condiment with other articles of food in Southern Europe, but has only a limited use in the United States. Garlic, or its fresh juice, is also used in medicine. It owes its properties chiefly to oil of garlic. The cultivation of garlic is extremely easy; it is generally propagated by its cloves. Many species of the genus Allium are popularly called garlic, with some distinctive addition. Allium oleraceum is sometimes called
wild garlic in England, and its young and tender leaves are used as a pot-herb. Its leaves are semi-cylindrical, and grooved on the upper side, and its stamens are all simple. In America, wild garlic is Allium ceneale, a perennial also known as field garlic and wild onion. This is a serious weed pest in pastures, hay and grain fields of the Eastern United States from New York to South Carolina. When eaten by cattle it imparts a very disagreeable odor and flavor to the milk, butter, cheese, and other dairy products. The species has hollow, thread-like leaves surround ing a slender scape, which bears an umbel of greenish-white or rose-colored flowers in mid summer, which are followed in early autumn by either seeds or bulblets. The easiest way to eradicate it in fields is to alternate heavy crop ping with clettn cultivation. See Annium; AL LIACEOUS PLANT; PLATE OF ONIONS, ETC.