Allium sativum (garlic, "Ninniku")

Japanese name: ニンニク （蒜、大蒜、葫）
Scientific name: Allium sativum

[Overview]
A perennial thought to have originated in Central Asia.
The large underground bulb is used mainly as a spice, and the leaves of young plants and the young flower stalks are also used as vegetables.
The bulb has a distinctive strong smell and pungency.
It is also used as a crude drug.
The leaves are flat, and 4–6 emerge.
The above-ground part dies back in summer and the plant becomes dormant.
A flower stalk 50–100 cm long is produced, bearing an umbel at its tip.
Many flowers are produced, but they are generally sterile; the umbel may be mixed with bulbils, and some cultivars consist only of bulbils.

[History]
It was already in use in ancient Egypt around 3200 BC; it was introduced to Japan by way of China, and its name appears in the Honzo Wamyo (918).

[Cultivation]
It prefers a cool climate.
Fertile clay loam rich in organic matter is suitable for the soil, and a soil acidity of pH 7.8–8.0 is said to be good.
Propagation is vegetative, by cloves or bulbils.
Pests and diseases include leaf blight, aphids and tulip rust mites.

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