Garlic Mustard

Description:

A plant with an interesting life cycle - it's biennial, so only lives two years. In its first year, it is just a cluster of kidney-shaped leaves, but in the second year, these tall stalks form with small white flowers on the top. This explains why I had not seen these last year! They are edible in their second year, tasting (unsurprisingly!) like garlic, with the first year leaves being too bitter. The flowers can be used in salads, the flower stalks can be cooked (before the flowers open), and the seeds are apparently nice toasted as used as spices.

Habitat:

Common amongst hedgerows and in open woods, especially prefers chalky soils. These I found by the side of my road, which is lined with hedges and tall trees.

Notes:

I remember seeing clusters of the kidney-shaped leaves last year, and this year there are a great number of these flowering, tall stalks. They look kind of like stinging nettles but with flowers, which was what threw me. Will try picking some I guess, supposed to have a nice garlicky taste!