Bear garlic

Allium ursinum, the ramsons or wild garlic, is a bulbous perennial herb of the family Amaryllidaceae that carpets the ground in spring and smells strongly of garlic. From a slender white bulb arise one or two broad, elliptical, bright green, long-stalked leaves that are flat and soft, quite unlike the tubular leaves of onions. The leafless triangular flowering stem, 20 to 50 cm tall, bears a loose, rounded umbel of pure white, star-shaped six-petalled flowers in spring and early summer. The plant spreads by both bulbs and seed to form extensive colonies. Native across Europe and into temperate Asia, ramsons grows in moist, shaded, base-rich deciduous woodland, hedge banks and streamsides, often forming dense fragrant sheets. The leaves and bulbs are widely gathered as a culinary herb.