Field guide · Spring

Wild garlic

Bear's garlic in nearly every language it touches — alho-dos-ursos, ail des ours, Bärlauch, aglio orsino — named for the bears once said to dig it up first thing on waking. It holds the woodland floor for a few weeks in spring and then vanishes, which is why it's more often a forager's plant than a stall's. One caution that matters: the leaves closely resemble lily-of-the-valley, which is poisonous, so crush one between your fingers — if it doesn't smell aggressively of garlic, walk away. Simplest thing to do with it: raw, torn into something warm at the last possible second.

Noted 2026-07-26