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
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