Garlic Mustard is best described as:

• A. Annual vine with blue flowers
• B. Evergreen shrub with fragrant leaves
• C. Annual grass with narrow blades
• D. Biennial or winter annual herb

Answer: (D)

Garlic mustard is an herbaceous plant that fits the life cycle of a biennial or winter annual. In its first year it forms a low rosette of leaves; in the following season it sends up a tall flowering stalk with white flowers, then dies after setting seed. It is not a vine, evergreen shrub, or grass, and its flowers are white, not blue. Recognizing this life cycle is important for control: manage by removing rosettes before they bolt and seed, since seed production drives its spread and persistence in rangeland areas.