Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an exotic herbaceous weed found in forest and edge habitats throughout the eastern United States. This obligate biennial is problematic as it is capable of invading pristine forests where it can dominate the understory vegetation. In Kansas, A. petiolata is at the western edge of its continuous range in the United States. Although previous studies have examined the effects of different management strategies, we think it is important to examine the biology of this species at its western edge. To this end an experiment was set up in 1998 designed to examine control strategies and the interplay between the juvenile and adult life stages in an deciduous forest in eastern Kansas. Sixty experimental plots were set up with the following treatments; adults clipped (prior to flowering), seedlings pulled, both adults clipped and seedlings pulled, or control (neither adults clipped nor seedlings pulled). Even after four years of treatment, seedling numbers are high in all plots, although fewer seedlings are found in plots where adults were clipped. Treatment did not effect the number of adults per plot. These results indicate the importance of the seed bank in the population dynamics of A. petiolata.

Key words: Alliaria petiolata , biennial, exotic species, Garlic Mustard