False Garlic

The verdant landscapes of spring, along a rural Adams County roadside. But wait! What's that mist of white flowers creating a drift along the verge?

This one is worth stopping for. It's False Garlic, Nothoscordum bivalve, an Ohio threatened plant. While it acts rather weedy, False Garlic occurs only in a limited area of southernmost Ohio, primarily in Adams County. Start moving south, and the plant becomes abundant. I once drove to Texas at this time of year, and False Garlic became a prolific roadside - dare I say - "weed" in many areas.

Up close and personal, we can clearly see that this species is in the lily family (Liliaceae) with its six-parted flowers. False Garlic greatly resembles some of the wild onions in the genus Allium, but with the possible exception of Nodding Wild Onion, A. cernuum, those species do not have nearly as showy flowers. Also, had I plunked down in a patch of true onions to make some photos, as I did here, the powerful, pungent aroma of onions would have risen to greet me. False Garlic is inodorous - it produces no smell.

Hopefully these plants will still be in bloom this weekend for the Flora-Quest crowd, as some of their expeditions should be going right by this very patch of plants.