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A short history of garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a perennial plant of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, grown for its flavourful bulbs. [Britannica] Britannica says the plant is native to central Asia but grows wild in Italy and southern France, and is a classic ingredient in many national cuisines. [Britannica] Kew lists the species as native in Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. [Kew] Garlic plants grow about 60 cm (2 feet) tall, Britannica says. [Britannica] The bulb, covered with membranous skin, encloses up to 20 edible bulblets called cloves. [Britannica] The spherical flower cluster is first enclosed in a pair of papery tapered bracts, which split open when the green-white or pinkish flowers bloom. [Britannica] Flower stalks sometimes arise bearing tiny bulbils — tiny secondary bulbs that form in place of flowers — and sterile blossoms. [Britannica]

Kew says garlic has been cultivated around the world for thousands of years and is found in almost every cuisine on the planet. [Kew] Garlic bulbs were found in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, Kew records. [Kew] Garlic is mentioned, Kew says, in several ancient Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese texts, as well as the Bible and the Qur’an. [Kew] Garlic is in the genus Allium, Kew says, so it is closely related to onions, leeks and chives. [Kew] Garlic (seer, in Farsi) is one of the seven items on a Haft-sin table at Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Kew says, representing medicine and good health in that tradition. [Kew]

Traditional and folk uses are part of that history. This site records that they were written down; it does not repeat them as advice, and it does not make health, nutrition or diet claims.

Britannica notes that the plant is used in traditional and folk medicine in many places. This site does not make health claims, and treats that only as a record of how garlic has been talked about. [Britannica]