garlic, garlek, garlekke, garlick, garlik

[A. S. gárleác, from gár =a spear, and leác a leek.] 1. Bot .: Allium sativum , a perennial plant with a compound bulb composed of ten or twelve smaller ones, called cloves, flat, narrow, erect, and pointed leaves, flowers akin to those of the onion, whitish or pinkish. It is used in Sicily, and some parts of Provence. It is cultivated in Portugal and other parts of the continent. The peasantry eat their bread with slices of it, though it has a disagreeeble odor and a pungent taste. 2. Pharm.: Like other species of Allium, it is stimulant, diuretic, and expectorant, but being medicine. mild in its operation, is used for diet rather than IMG:content-0335.png:[blocks in formation] Bot .: Sisymbrium all i aria , formerly called Ery simum all i aria , a European plant. It is termed also Sauce-alone and Jack-by-the-hedge. garlic-pear, garlick-pear, s. Bot.: Cratæva gynandra , a capparid. It is a tree thirty or forty feet high, bearing a fruit which has a smell of garlic. The bark of the root blisters like cantharides. It grows in Jamaica.