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