This plant of the Amaryllidaceae family has long enjoyed worldwide popularity. The homeland of this herbaceous plant is considered to be the west of Central Asia, where it has been successfully introduced into cultivation for many millennia.
Garlic is genetically related to the long-pointed onion (Allium longicuspis). There is evidence that the ancient Romans widely used garlic and onions for food.
The leaves of the plant are lanceolate-elongated, drooping or erect, with a length of thirty centimeters. The leaves grow in such a way that they form a false stem. The peduncle is high, ending with a spherical umbrella of the inflorescence. The inflorescence consists of small air bulbs - the future seed. The root system of the plant is fibrous. The garlic bulb is round. In the sinuses of its scales, it forms bulbs, which are usually called cloves. The fruit of garlic is a capsule with almost complete absence of seeds.
In the culture of garlic, two main forms are distinguished: giving and not giving an arrow. Arrowhead garlic is a winter crop. It is planted in late autumn, and a year later it is used for food. For planting, air bulbs, sevok (air bulbs planted ahead of time) and cloves are usually used. Spring garlic does not shoot, is grown during the summer and propagates by cloves. Usually bulbs of winter garlic are larger than bulbs of spring garlic, but the latter is better stored in winter.
The garlic plant loves light and moist soil, but does not like bulbs getting wet due to excess moisture. Prefers neutral, compost-rich soils. Garlic has over twenty different varieties, many of which are distinguished by large bulbs, disease resistance, winter frost and spring frost resistance.
It is worth paying attention to the value of this culture to humans. First of all, it is nutritional value. Even in antiquity, cloves of garlic were widely used as a spicy and piquant seasoning for food. The arrows are fermented, salted, canned. The leaves are fried and made into salads. In medicine, the antiseptic, antifungal and antiviral properties of garlic are used. On its basis, biologically active food additives are made. There is evidence that garlic has a depressing effect on tape parasites living in the human intestine. The plant contains phytoncides, allicin, flavonoids, vitamin C, sugars, proteins and essential oil.
