Garlic Chives

Other names

Chinese Chives, Oriental Garlic

Growth habit

Geophyte

Perennation

Long-lived polycarpic perennial

Native distribution

Southeastern Asia

Biocultural value

Garlic-flavored flower heads are pulled apart and sprinkled in salads, soups, omelettes and dips. Fresh leaves, flowers and flower stalks impart a mild garlic flavor. Fresh leaves, flowers and flower stalks impart a mild garlic flavor.

Location

Robison Herb Garden

Source of plant

Ethel Little

Description

Bulbs elongate, on a stout rhizome, outer bulb coat fibrous-netted; scape to 20"; leaves 4 to 9, not hollow, keeled on the back, 1/8" to 5/16" wide, shorter than the scape; umbel many-flowered, pedicels 2 to 3times as long as the flowers. Flowers fragrant, perianth segments white with greenish or brownish nerve, 3/16" long, filaments from 4/5 as long, to as long as, segments; ovary without nectaries, capsuleobovate, broader at the apex.

USDA Hardiness Zone

5

Special characteristics

fragrance, other ethnobotanical uses, food