Ramsons (Wild Garlic)
Allium ursinum
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You smell a ramsons wood well before you reach it.
A woodland perennial forming dense carpets of broad, bright green, elliptical leaves topped by rounded heads of white star-shaped flowers. The whole plant smells strongly of garlic. Ramsons favours damp, shaded, base-rich ground — river banks, wet woodland, shady lanes — and forms extensive sheets in suitable woods around Dumfries.
Behaviour
Like the bluebell it exploits the window before the canopy closes, growing fast, flowering and setting seed by early summer. The garlic smell comes from sulphur compounds released when the leaves are crushed, which deter grazing. It is a popular foraged plant, but the leaves can be confused with the seriously poisonous lords-and-ladies and lily-of-the-valley — smell is the test.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Asparagus family (Amaryllidaceae)
- Height
- 20–45 cm
- Status
- Native; common in damp, shaded woodland
Photo by Rodolph, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons