FOOD FOREST MEDICINE Monograph #4: Wild Garlic

Common Name: Wild Garlic

Latin Name: Allium canadense (native Carolinian species), Allium ursinum (non-native)

Allium canadense Allium ursinum

Brief Description: Garlics are perennial plants growing from 30cm to 1m (approximately 18-24” tall), with pale pink or green-white flowers. They produce dividing bulbs and sprout up into an upright, grass-like plant with a pungent aroma.  Some will produce small bulbils that form where they blossom.    Historically,  garlics have been used as a food and as a potent anti-biotic/anti-microbial.

Parts Used: Flowers, leaves, root

Edible Uses: Vegetable

Medicinal Uses: Has anti-microbial, cardio protective, and potentially anti-cancer properties, decreases high cholesterol.  Also used traditionally to expel pinworms. Wild Garlic also contains highly bio-available selenium, which is a very powerful anti-oxidant.  Wild garlic also contains more active/medicinal components than cultivated garlic (it is thought to be a more potent medicine than most cultivars).

Body System’s Treated: Cardiovascular system, Digestive system, Respiratory system.

Other Uses: Repellant, food

Harvesting Notes: Look to cut individual leaves off the plant, or if the wild garlic has blossomed, keep the flowers and leaves. Bulbs can be harvested anytime but are generally harvested when the bulbs have gone dormant at the end of the growing season.

Safety/Cautions/Interactions: May cause gastro-intestinal upset.  Is generally well tolerated.

Sources: Allium ursinum monograph:  Physica Energetics 9/10/12 http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+canadense The Complete Natural Guide to the 50 Most Common Medicinal Herbs http://www.turf.uiuc.edu/weed_web/descriptions/wildgarlic.htm http://www.ehow.com/how_7626855_harvest-wild-garlic.html