Ramsons

Ramsons
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Alliaceae
Genus:	Allium
Species:	A. ursinum
Binomial name
Allium ursinum L.

Ramsons (Allium ursinum) (also known as buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, sremuš or bear's garlic) is a wild relative of chives. The Latin name owes to the brown bear's taste for the bulbs and habit of digging up the ground to get at them; they are also a favorite of wild boar.

Habitat

Ramsons in the snow at Speir's school, Scotland.

Ramsons grow in deciduous woodlands with moist soils, preferring slightly acidic conditions. They flower before deciduous trees leaf in the spring, filling the air with their characteristic garlic-like scent. The stem is triangular in shape and the leaves are similar to those of the lily of the valley. Unlike the related crow garlic and field garlic, the flower-head contains no bulbils, only flowers.^[1]

Edibility

Ramsons leaves are edible; they can be used as salad, spice, boiled as a vegetable, in soup, or as an ingredient for pesto in lieu of basil. The stems are preserved by salting and eaten as a salad in Russia. The bulbs and flowers are also very tasty.

Ramsons leaves are also used as fodder. Cows that have fed on ramsons give milk that slightly tastes of garlic, and butter made from this milk used to be very popular in 19th century Switzerland.

The first evidence of the human use of ramsons comes from the mesolithic settlement of Barkaer (Denmark) where an impression of a leaf has been found. In the Swiss neolithic settlement of Thayngen-Weier (Cortaillod culture) there is a high concentration of ramsons pollen in the settlement layer, interpreted by some as evidence for the use of ramsons as fodder.

Similarity to poisonous plants

Ramsons leaves are easily mistaken for lily of the valley, sometimes also those of Colchicum autumnale and Arum maculatum. All three are poisonous and possibly deadly. A good means of positively identifying ramsons is grinding the leaves between one's fingers, which should produce a garlic-like smell. When the leaves of ramsons and Arum maculatum first sprout they look similar, however unfolded Arum maculatum leaves have irregular edges and many deep veins while ramsons leaves are convex with a single main vein. The leaves of lily of the valley come from a single purple stem, while the ramsons leaves are have individual green-coloured stems.

See also

• Allium tricoccum - North American wild leek or ramp
• Allium ampeloprasum - Eurasian broadleaf wild leek
• Allium vineale - Crow garlic
• Allium oleraceum - Field garlic
• Allium victorialis (Japanese Wikipedia page)
• List of Allium species

References

External links

• Ramsons at Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages

Young ramsons leaves in early spring

Young ramsons in late February 2007 (Germany, Rhine valley)

A close-up of the flowers and developing fruit

Ramsons may grow in great numbers, as in this woodland in North Devon, England