Wild Garlic

The leaves of the poisonous autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale L.) look totally different: they are thin, long and lanceolate and have no leaf stem, but grow from the stems that remain in the soil. The autumn crocus’s leaves are flexible, almost rubber-like, and, unlike wild garlic, do not break when fresh. These leaves have no clearly visible ribbed leaves, as opposed to wild garlic. They are difficult to almost impossible to grind between the fingers. The leaves of the autumn crocus are odourless. But beware: the penetrating garlic smell of earlier samples of real wild garlic might still stick to the fingers and can be misleading when sampling other leaves. Thus, always consider looking for other distinguishing features.

Three to four autumn crocus leaves can be enough to cause death when eaten. Colchicine, the cell toxin contained in the leaves, takes effect only after several hours. The first symptoms are nausea and vomiting, followed by diarrhoea. The toxin destroys intestinal, blood and bone marrow cells, which could end fatally after about two days.

Fortunately, mixing up wild garlic with lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis L.) usually has less serious effects. Life-threatening poisonings are rare.

Lily of the valley can be found mostly in dry locations and the leaves sprout somewhat later than the first wild garlic leaves.

They usually have two to three basic leaves forming a leaf sheath. The apparent stem is green at the top and reddish at the bottom and the lily of the valley lamina shimmer light green on the underside. The leaves are flexible, almost rubber-like.

Just as the autumn crocus, the leaves of lily of the valley do not smell of garlic.

Lily of the valley contains cardiac glycosides causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and different levels of heart palpitations.

The leaves of the poisonous garden tulip (Tulipa L.-Hybride), which can sometimes grow in the wild, could also be mistaken for the leaves of the wild garlic plant.

The tulip grows only one leaf as long as it does not flower, which is similar to that of wild garlic. People cultivating wild garlic in their gardens should be careful not to pick tulip leaves, too. The leaf of the tulip is separated into a lanceolate lamina and thin leaf stem, just like wild garlic. However, its leaves are thick and fleshy and of blue-green colour with a wax-like coat.

Symptoms such as salivation, nausea, vomiting, stomach ache and diarrhoea can occur as soon as 15 minutes after ingestion.