Garlic Mustard - Alliaria petiolata

Click here to support NatureSpot by making a donation - small or large - your gift is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Alternative names
Jack-By-The-Hedge and as Hedge Garlic
Description

Short to tall plant, hairy, usually unbranched. Leaves pale green, kidney shaped to heart shaped, toothed and smelling of garlic when crushed. Flowers white, 3 to 5 mm in clusters. Fruit 20 to 70 mm erect.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Roadsides, waste ground, woodland margins, hedgerows.

When to see it

April to June.

Life History

Biennial.

UK Status

Common throughout most of Britain though scarce in northern Scotland.

VC55 Status

Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 547 of the 617 tetrads.

  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    28 April 2014
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    01 May 2006
  • Barbara Cooper
    Grantham canal
    19 May 2013
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    28 April 2014
  • Graham Calow
    Cambridge Road, Cosby
    15 May 2016
  • Ron.stevens
    Broughton Astley
    24 June 2011
    seeding

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species data profile ?

Species profile

Common names
Garlic Mustard
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Brassicales
Family:
Brassicaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
585
First record:
01/01/2006 (Harry Ball)
Last record:
23/10/2024 (Pugh, Dylan)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.

Latest images

Latest records

  • HAPeacock
    Gilroes Cemetery Extension
    24 April 2012
  • HAPeacock
    Gilroes Cemetery Extension
    24 April 2012
  • HAPeacock
    Goss Meadows
    24 April 2012
  • David Nicholls
    Gilroes Cemetery
    06 May 2012
  • HAPeacock
    Gilroes Cemetery
    24 April 2012
  • Barbara Cooper
    Long Clawson
    12 May 2012
  • Alan Semper
    Harby hedgebottom
    21 May 2012
  • Alan Semper
    Harby hedgebottom
    21 May 2012
  • David Gould
    The Spearwort Fields
    18 May 2013
  • Alan Semper
    Bottesford, nr RDevon
    03 May 2013