This is how you distinguish wild garlic from the poisonous double autumn crocus

The wild garlic season has started. The juicy, garlic-scented leaves sprout from the ground until May. At the same time, the dark green leaves of the poisonous autumn crocus, which resemble wild garlic, appear in the spring.

Both plants have oval leaves and often grow close together. Mixtures often lead to poisoning, which can be fatal. Tox Info Suisse has recorded a doubling of inquiries about possible mix-ups over the past ten to fifteen years.

This is how you can distinguish the plants from each other:

Wild garlic smells like garlic when crushed, but autumn crocus does not. But be careful with the smell test: it only works the first time. Because as soon as you touch wild garlic, the intense smell sticks to your fingers – and can therefore falsify the scent sample.

The leaves of wild garlic have a matte underside. When you go to the autumn crocus, the leaves on the underside and the top of the leaves shine green.

You can recognize wild garlic by the thin style of the leaves. Autumn crocuses grow directly from the ground

When collecting, you should avoid the edge of the forest, because wild garlic and autumn crocus often grow together there. Picking from the interior of the forest is preferred.