Continuing my Balbirnie Park theme, whilst continuing to get all my previous posts located on the above menus, I took this photo of the flower head of a Ramsons, in late April this year.
Ramsons are part of the major group of flowers called the monocotyledons. ‘Monocots’ are principally distinguished from the other major group of flowering plants, the dicotyledons, because the seeds only have one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. In the field however, as a general rule of thumb, plants with leaves that have parallel veins are ‘monocots’, those with spreading and branched veins on their leaves are ‘dicots’.
Ramsons is part of the onion family, and is also edible – the leaves are used around the rind of Cornish Yarg (a type of cheese). However, care must be taken to identify the plant correctly, the similar plant ‘Lily of the Valley’ has poisonous leaves. Monocots also include flowers such as orchids, iris’s and daffodils, to name but a few.
Flower Head of Ramsons, growing in Balbirnie Park, near Glenrothes
Fife Photos & Art 
Well your post has taught me something: I did not know the proper name for wild garlic and now I do. I actually used to cook with wild garlic fairly frequently as it grew near my garden in Argyll so I could nip out and get some just as easily as I picked from my herb garden. My kids and I would also nibble it and other wild edibles when out on hikes.
Lovely photo by the way. You’ve captured all the detail very crisply and handled capturing the tones within the white incredibly well.
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I’m glad I managed to teach you something new Laura 🙂 And it’s great to meet someone who has actually used ramsons for culinary purposes! Its one of those things I’ve never actually tried whilst out walking, but I have tried the leaves in a salad.
And thank you for the kind comment about the photo.
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Munching on wild edibles is great fun. I don’t risk fungi though as I’m not confident enough in my ability to identify the dangerous ones.
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I’m like you Laura, I steer clear of fungi, but will eat most things whilst out walking. We have such an abundance of edibles out in the countryside, and many people just don’t realise this – mind you, those that don’t, generally don’t go out walking!! (Well not in the great outdoors)
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The Ramsons are beautiful Andy. They look so delicate. Thank you for sharing their image and information.I am now a bit wiser 🙂
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Thank you Sonia for your kind comments 🙂
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Nice photo, Andy, and I love the smell of wild garlic. Your new website is looking good!
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Double thanks Jo 🙂 🙂 The whole menu structure is taking a wee bit longer than I intended, but it’s getting there slowly.
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A sumptuously crisp photograph. I used to dislike the smell of wild garlic but I’ve kind of grown to like it since I noticed what beautiful flowers it has. You’ve taken an exquisite shot there.
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Thank you Lorna 🙂 I must admit, I love the smell of wild garlic, but it always makes me feel hungry 😦
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This is a really pretty flower, and if it is wild garlic, has a strong, though not unpleasant, smell – which can carry for some distance in the breeze. I’ve never tried to use it in cooking and probably never will. My husband really dislikes garlic. 🙂
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I love the smell of it Millie, but with your hubby not liking the smell of garlic, it wouldn’t be something you would use. There used to be loads of it growing around Surrey, do you get much around you?
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Not really. We used to see quite a lot of it when we lived in Wantage and there’s plenty around the grounds of Fountains Abbey. It has its own unique smell.
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