Ramsons is a
native
perennial plant of the UK, typically found growing in woodland and damp shady areas, to a mature height of up to 50cm.
Ramsons is also known as Wild Garlic and the leaves have traditionally been used boiled as a vegetable or as a garlic substitute flavouring in cooking. The presence of established Ramsons can be an indicator of ancient woodland.
Botanic classification and naming: Ramsons is a member of the Onion (Alliaceae) family. The genus name
'Allium' identifies the plant as a Onion and its species name 'ursinum' means 'bear plant'.
Concerns: Note that unsupervised foraging may cause damage to wild plants and the misidentification of forage species can be fatal. The leaves of Ramsons are similar to poisonous plants such as Lily-of-the-Valley, Green False Hellebore and the Autumn Crocus, and poisoning from these species is known to occur amongst foragers for Ramsons.
Benefits: Ramsons is pollinated by a wide range of bees, butterflies, moths and other insects. The plant also provides food for larvae of the Ramsons hoverfly.
Benefits to wildlife are also indicated with orange icons in the plant profile bar at the top.
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