This onion and garlic relative makes a great addition to a variety of wild dishes. We appreciate Allium vineale for its whimsical appearances and strong flavor, but keep it from our nitrogen fixing plants. 

Look for patches of wiry, hollow green stems with a strong garlicky smell growing in your lawn, in fields and agricultural land, and in disturbed areas. Pink to greenish and even white flowers bloom in the summer months. 

 

Common Name: Wild onion, wild garlic, onion grass, field garlic, crow garlic

Scientific Name:  Allium vineale

Plant Family: Amaryllidaceae (Onion Family)

Primary Uses

Edible Parts: flowers, leaves, roots/bulbs;

leaves of this plant can reach 3 ft tall and only appear in winter and early spring; to collect the bulbs, simply grasp the bundle of leaves, tug, and shake off the excess dirt!

Medicinal Uses: anti-asthmatic, antioxidant properties, blood purifier, carminative, cathartic, diuretic, expectorant, stimulant, vasodilator (reduces blood pressure)

Meaning of Scientific Name: Allium - Latin for ‘garlic’ ; vineale - ‘of the vineyard’ ; “the garlic that grows in vineyards”

Designing with this Plant

USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-8

Forest garden layer: herbaceous

Sources

• Plants for a Future Database - Allium vineale - L.
• Spencer, Edwin Rollin. All about weeds. Dover Publications, 1974.
• Native American Ethnobotany Database
• Stajner, D, et al. “Exploring Allium Species as a Source of Potential Medicinal Agents.” Phytotherapy Research: PTR, vol. 20, no. 7, July 2006, pp. 581-584.
• MUSSELMAN, L. J. (2017). QUICK GUIDE TO WILD EDIBLE PLANTS: easy to pick, easy to prepare. S.l.: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV PRESS.