How do you recognise Crow garlic (Allium vineale)?

Habit

Agnieszka Kwiecień, Wikimedia · CC-BY-SA 4.0

Crow garlic

Allium vineale L.

Also known as: Field garlic

Family: Amaryllidaceae

30 to 80 cm tall

Fields, vineyards, wasteland, dry meadows, banks

Flowering: May – July

Full sun

Hardy to -20°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

Its flower head often contains more pink bulbils than true flowers — a formidable means of multiplication that makes it a weed that is hard to eradicate in vineyards and fields. Both form a globular violet flower head on a long bare stem, but crow garlic often mixes numerous burgundy-pink bulbils in with its few pale pink flowers, giving the head an irregular look, whereas round-headed leek has a dense, uniform head, without bulbils, of a dark purple that is almost black.

🍃 Leaves

Cylindrical, hollow, with a narrow groove on the upper side, glaucous, 25 to 45 cm long

🌸 Flowers

Small, tight, globular head at the top of the stem, mixing a few pale pink to whitish flowers with numerous burgundy-pink bulbils that often replace the flowers; protruding stamens.

🍎 Fruits

Capsule rare, the plant multiplying mainly by its aerial bulbils.

🪵 Bark

Ovoid bulb surrounded by numerous bulbils, bare upright flower stalk.

🗺️ Distribution

Europe, North Africa, western Asia; native or naturalised throughout France, common in fields, vineyards and wasteland, from sea level up to 1500 m.

🐝 Value for pollinators

Few flowers, with bulbils often filling the whole flower head, so not very nectar-rich compared with other garlics; visited only occasionally by a few insects.

✂️ Horticultural uses

Not cultivated, regarded as a weed of crops; sometimes tolerated in dry meadows for its drought tolerance.

⚠️ Possible toxicity

No known toxicity to humans (edible, pronounced garlic flavour); like other garlics, potentially irritating to dogs and cats in large quantities. Regarded as an invasive weed in crops, as it gives a garlic taint to milk and cereals.

⚠️ Look-alike species

Crow garlic

Allium vineale

Round-headed leek

Allium sphaerocephalon

Both form a globular violet flower head on a long bare stem, but crow garlic often mixes numerous burgundy-pink bulbils in with its few pale pink flowers, giving the head an irregular look, whereas round-headed leek has a dense, uniform head, without bulbils, of a dark purple that is almost black.

🌿 Other Amaryllidaceae to discover

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.