Wild Garlic and two Alien imposters
Spring is a wonderful time for a woodland walk, and one of the most welcome and distinctive smells and sights is the garlicky aroma and white, star-like flowers of Wild Garlic or Ramsons (Allium ursinum).
In March rich, bright green elliptical leaves grow with pointed tips forming a gentle arc from ground to tip. Each plant has two or three, with the leaf stalk or petiole twisting, noticeable if you are foraging. The leaves grow from an underground bulb. White, compressed modified leaves are packed with stored energy in the form of starch, giving the plant the early start it needs to beat the closing tree canopy.
In April the small white flowers appear, held together in a bouquet-like inflorescence, with all the short flower stalks or peduncles meeting at the same point, like the spokes of an umbrella. Hence the botanical term – ‘umbel’ from the Latin for parasol.
In April and May, Wild Garlic flowers carpet the woodland floor in balls of white stars. The flowers are pollinated by insects and ripen into seed capsules containing black seeds, which is the plant’s main form of spreading .
Woodland flora is usually either a sea of Bluebells or Ramsons, but they rarely seem to mix, or even appear in the same wood. Ramsons prefer wetter habitats, and are more shade-tolerant than Bluebells, that are happier growing in slightly drier woods with a more open canopy. The story so far is one that everyone will recognise, but in recent decades there have been two non-native Alliums which have spread, almost unnoticed as they superficially look very similar. These are Few-flowered Garlic (Allium paradoxum) and Three-cornered Garlic (Allium triquetrum), both introduced by our horticultural and botanical ancestors.
Few-flowered Garlic originally from the Caucasus was introduced into Britain in 1823 and escaped into the wild near Edinburgh by 1863. Since then it has spread in an invasive manner south and is now frequently seen along streams and riverbanks in Wharfedale. It does what it says on the tin, and only has one or two, sometimes no flowers, these having been replaced by bulbils. This efficient vegetative method of spread accounts for its invasive nature. Preferring wet habitats, the bulbils will break off and spread downstream.
Three-cornered Garlic, originally from southwest Europe was first cultivated in Britain in 1749 and was first established in the wild in Guernsey by 1849. Since then it has spread northwards, and now can be found throughout England, including Wharfedale. The flowers are much like a white-flowered Bluebell, with a thin green stripe on each white petal or tepal. All three Alliums have triangular stems, but this is particularly pronounced in Three-cornered Garlic with ‘wings’ at each corner .
Three-cornered Garlic has an even more ingenious method of spread – Myrmecochory – where the seeds are dispersed by ants. The seeds have a fatty appendage or elaiosome which the ants love to eat. The seeds are taken back to the nest and gorged upon, after which they are discarded outside the nest and are ready to germinate next spring. How clever is that?
All three Alliums can be used to make Garlic soup or butter, and pesto. Make sure to positively identify the plants. The leaves of both non-native invaders are narrow unlike the wide elliptical leaves of Ramsons and can be confused with Daffodil or Bluebell leaves in the absence of any flowers, both of which are poisonous. Happy foraging, and don’t forget to have that woodland walk before the spring spectacle is over for another year.
PLEASE NOTE: As always when foraging, make sure to correctly identify the plants and please forage sustainably. For example, the National Trust offer some guidelines: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/about-us/our-policy-on-foraging-for-wild-food