The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: ramp, wild leek, wood leek

Family: Liliaceae (lily family)

Distribution: e. North America

Hardiness: USDA Zone 4

Life form: Geophyte (bulb, corm or tuber)

Comments: A highlight of the Woodland Garden at Dawes is the dense covering of ramps in spring. Ramps, or wild leeks, are perennials with the leaves emerging from a bulb that has fibrous roots at the base. When the foliage withers away to give rise to the flowers in summer, the garden briefly becomes a landscape of fairy lights. The flowers consist of nearly translucent white tepals and are clustered into a rounded umbel at the end of a long stalk. The plants exude an onion-like odor and can actually be used in cooking similar to related plants like onions and chives, though the taste can be quite strong. Native Americans also used the juice from crushed bulbs to treat insect stings. Bees are the most common pollinators of ramps.