Stats

Lifespan: Biennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: Europe
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

An invasive biennial herb native to Europe and Asia, garlic mustard releases allelopathic chemicals that suppress native plants and disrupt the mycorrhizal fungi that forest trees depend on — making it one of the most ecologically damaging weeds in North American woodlands.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Alliaria
Species: Alliaria petiolata