Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara & Grande (garlic mustard) is a non-indigenous member of the Brassicaceae that is invading woodlands throughout eastern North America. Previous work has demonstrated that this species is having a negative effect on the diversity of understory communities and is actively displacing native species. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which allelopathy might be acting as the mechanism of interference. Extracts of garlic mustard root and shoot tissues were applied to seeds and seedlings of four target species used as bioassays: radish, winter rye, hairy vetch, and lettuce. While seed germination rates varied by species and extract concentration, total germination after 5-7 d was largely unaffected by any extract concentration. Only radish seeds treated with the most concentrated root solution exhibited a depressed germination relative to the water control. Likewise, seedling biomass was generally unaffected by any extract treatment. Only shoot biomass for rye was significantly depressed with the highest concentration of leaf extract. Our data provide little evidence that allelopathy is involved in the invasive success or community interference of this non-indigenous species, even though the Brassicaceae are well known to possess potentially biologically active compounds with allelopathic effects.