Wild garlic is another of those wildflower species that go by many different names: ramsons, cowleek or cowlick, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek and bear’s garlic are just a few of them.
Its scientific name is Allium ursinum. The genus Allium, which belongs in the amaryllis family, includes onions, leeks, chives and garlic as well as all the showy, large-flowered garden cultivars that go by the same name. The specific ursinum is Latin for bear. While we don’t have bears in the reserve, Allium ursinum is known to be a favourite foodstuff of the European brown bear.
Wild garlic photographed in the reserve this week by Clive Knight
Unlike many bulbous plants, wild garlic spreads via seed. Lately, it seems to have found its footing in the reserve’s woods and copses and there is more and more every year.
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 