Garlic Mustard is a cool-season biennial herb that can be identified by stalked, triangular to heart-shaped leaves with coarse teeth. When these leaves are crushed, they release a distinctive garlic odor. During its first year, Garlic Mustard forms a rosette of green leaves close to the ground, which can resemble violets during the rosette stage. These rosettes remain green throughout the winter and grow into mature, flowering plants the next spring. Flowering Garlic Mustard plants reach heights of 2 to 3-½ feet and produce clusters of small white flowers, each with four petals arranged in the shape of a cross.
Garlic mustard is classified as a noxious weed, originally brought over as a culinary herb from Europe. The Columbia Gorge Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA) designates it as an A weed, while the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) lists it as both a B and T weed. This invasive species is highly adaptable and can thrive in a wide range of environmental conditions, including sun or shade, wet or dry soils, and both forested and open landscapes. Garlic Mustard reproduces rapidly and has the potential to become the dominant species within an ecosystem. Additionally, it alters soil composition, creating conditions that favor its own growth and make it more difficult for understory plants and young trees to survive.
