Start the week with a wildflower No 15. Garlic Mustard. Alliaria petiolata
Garlic mustard is unrelated to wild garlic, but a simple sniff or taste of a crushed leaf explains the name. Another common name is Jack-by-the hedge, a clue to where it thrives. Look out for light green, slightly crinkly kidney shaped leaves in early spring. The whole plant is edible but the leaves are best before the clusters of four-petalled flowers appear on tall flowering stalks. See link below for recipes if you are feeling adventurous. Garlic mustard is now in seed, its flowers being outshone by creamy froths of cow parsley. Nibble on a seed pod for a garlic mustardy taste kick. But watch out to avoid an additional bit of meat! The pretty orange tip butterfly largely depends on Garlic Mustard and Cuckooflower to complete its life cycle. Its slim caterpillars are well disguised on the seed pods (Photo Chris Jeffree) The linked article from Botany in Scotland is well worth your time