Ransoms or wild garlic in flower under one of our hedges. I noticed on my blog search it was flowering in March last year.
I like it's for it's white flowers but it can be ate. It's has been used in herbal medicine for years and like all the Allium family is very good for colds and lung conditions. Apparently during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 people carried it around in their pockets to sniff.
It use to be traditional to decorate churches with Ransoms on Saint Alphege day. I would imagine the church gave off a wonderful aroma and warned off any vampires or evil spirits.
In Ireland rural dwellers mixed it in with the thatch on their roofs and it was said to keep the 'little people' away.
I have also read that farmers planted it in pasture for cattle and sheep to graze and it would prevent them getting ringworm. The only downside was the cows milk tasted of garlic.
I think there are many of of our wild plants that are attractive to the bees, edible and have herbal remedies. Many of which we have forgotten about.
I don't know that I've ever seen wild garlic!
ReplyDeleteIt's native to Europe and Asia Debby. I love reading about medicinal gardens in old monasteries. They tended to curing people's ailments and offered spiritual comfort and rest and refreshment.
ReplyDeleteIt grows in a huge swathe here all along our lane. The smell is incredible. Very powerful!
ReplyDeleteI believe so JayCee. I have read that they use to pickle the wild garlic bulbs in rum and brandy to ward off colds in the Isle of Man.
ReplyDeleteNow I know what it was that I saw this last weekend, at first I thought it was those tall snowdrops but it was these, thanks for the identification.
ReplyDeleteBriony
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They do look like snowdrops don't they Briony? I like them flowering in my garden in Springtime. If they get crushed or stood on they release a strong garlicky smell.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever seen this in a National Trust woodland garden. It was the smell that gave it away! I quite fancy a patch of it - can it be grown on purpose?
ReplyDeleteStill having problems logging in, but still reading! Veg Artist.
I think it's going to let me comment as myself now! Don't know if the comment I just tried to send went through? Can you grow this on purpose, or is it just wild?
ReplyDeleteHi the veg arist. Someone gave me a clump of it from their garden. I planted the bulbs, it withered and came back in abundance next year. It's even growing I places I haven't planted. It's a nice Spring flower. Thanks for still reading!
DeleteI love the smell of wild garlic in the woods near here but have never eaten it - perhaps we should try. Presumably it does not have bulbs in quite the same way as the cultivated stuff?
ReplyDeleteHi The bike shed. I have a plant finder app on my mobile phone which helps me identify plants by taking a photo and then it identifies the plants or offers suggestions of which plant it might be. They do have bulbs and it's the vegetation you eat. This was often used in bandage dressings too.
ReplyDeleteEarly advocates of manufactured modern medicines habitually scorned natural plant remedies - as if they were less valid but they had been used for centuries. In fact many modern medicines owe a great deal to old plant remedies.
ReplyDeleteVery true YP. Aspirin is derived from Willow and Comfrey (knit-bone) was used in splint dressings during world war one. We have so many wild foods and health remedies in our gardens and in the countryside.
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