False Garlic

False Garlic, Crow Poison

Nothoscordum bivalve (L.) Britton

Liliaceae (Lily Family)

▲ hillside covered with false garlic in spring

▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants

▲ ▼ flowers and buds

▲ leaves

▲ ▼ stem, leaves, flower buds

False Garlic, Crow Poison:

  • Native perennial, bulbous, monocot plant, with narrow, grass-like, rounded dark green leaves that grow 4-16 inches long
  • Has flowering stems topped with clusters of 3-8 or more, 6-petalled creamy white flowers in late spring, early summer, often repeating again in fall; grows 6-18 inches tall
  • Toxic to livestock if grazed (usually not grazed); toxic to humans as well
  • Can distinguish from wild garlic by lack of onion/garlic odor from false garlic leaves; lacks prominent white midvein of leaves of Star-of-Bethlehem

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