The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Hedge Garlic

Scientific Names

Hedge Garlic

  • Sisymbrium alliaria L.
  • Lily family

Common Names

  • Jack-by-the-hedge

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Parts Usually Used

The herb
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Hedge garlic is a European annual or biennial plant; the blue-green, usually simple stem grows to 3 feet high and is mostly glabrous but thinly hairy at the bottom. The leaves are glabrous and coarsely serrate, the basal reniform, the stem leaves cordate to almost triangular. When bruised, they smell like garlic. The small, white flowers grow in a broad raceme from April to June.
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Where Found

Grows along roadsides, hedges, walls, fences and among bushes.
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Medicinal Properties

Anthelmintic, stimulant, diuretic, tonic
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Uses

Used much like garlic (Allium sativum). Hedge garlic is a springtime tonic and is used to help rheumatism, gout, and asthma.
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Warning

As with mustard, skin irritation can result from use of the plant as either a poultice or a plaster.
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Bibliography

Buy It! The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Buy It! Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

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