Garlic Mustard

Alliaria petiolata

Common & widespread in Britain.

Flowers from April-early May.

Also known as Jack-by-the-Hedge.

The flowers are produced in spring and summer in small clusters. Each small flower has four white petals[5] 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in) broad, arranged in a cross shape.

The fruit is an erect, slender, four-sided capsule 4–5.5 cm (1.6–2.2 in) long, called a silique, green maturing to pale grey brown, containing two rows of small shiny black seeds which are released when a silique splits open.

A single plant can produce hundreds of seeds, which often scatter several meters from the parent plant.