In West Virginia, "spring is in the air" means more than longer days and occasional warm breezes; it means ramps! Even before the trees' buds break open, the hardy head for the woods in search of this reeking wild green.

The ramp (Allium tricoccum), or wild leek, belongs to the same pungent genus as onions (A.cepa), chives (A. schoenoprasum), and garlic (A. sativum), not to mention the showy ornamentals such as A. giganteum, with its massive purple pompon head. The ramp's odor is something akin to that of garlic and onion, but distinquishes itself by its persistence and its occasionally musty flavor.

Ramps are native to eastern North America, ranging from the rich, moist woodlands of Nova Scotia and southern Quebec, south through New England and the central Appalachian states, down into the cool upland portions of Georgia, and as far west as Iowa and Minnesota.

What's in a name
The Appalachian name "ramp" comes from the British Isles, where a related plant, A.ursinum, grows wild. As one version has it, the English folk name "ramson" (son of Ram), referred to the plant's habit of appearing during the sign of Aries March 20 to April 20 on the zodiac calendar. Another source indicates that the folk name was "ramsen," the plural form of an Old English word for wild garlic, "hramsa." The similarity between A. ursinum and A. tricoccum in taste, appearance, and growth habit led early English settlers of Appalachia to call the latter by the English folk name, which later was shortened to "ramp."

Native medicine
To early Native American and, later, the white settlers, ramps were an important and welcome addition to the early spring menu. The fresh and tender-green ramp leaves with their strong onion-garlic taste were an improvement on the bland winter fare of dried fruits, pickled vegetables, nuts, beans, and dried beef or salt pork; they were regarded as a spring tonic that cleansed the blood.

Modern science supports this folk tradition. Alliums are a good source of Vitamin C, a fleeting nutrient that was often lacking in winter diets, as well as prostaglandin A1, a fatty acid known to be therapeutic in the treatment of hypertension. Studies have linked the genus to increases in the production of high-density lipoproteins, which in turn are believed to combat heart disease by reducing blood serum levels of cholesterol. So, by following their insticts and tastebuds, these early mountain folk discovered a valuable nutritional supplement.

Native Americans knew ramps well. They used them in decoctions to treat coughs and colds, and they made a poultice from the juice of the strong summer bulbs to alleviate the pain and itching of bee stings. The Menomini called them pikwute sikakushia (skunk plant), and they referred to an area near the southern shore of Lake Michigan, where ramps grew abundantly, as CicagaWuni or shikako (skunk place). The term was later applied to a white settlement now known as Chicago.

The late wild foods evangelist Euell Gibbons considered ramps "the sweetest and the best of the wild onions. They have a mild onion flavor with a hint of garlic, which I find delicious." The mildness is relative, however. Though definitely more delicate than the typical wild onion or garlic, ramp greens are decidedly more pronounced and lingering in flavor (though less hot) than ordinary cooking onions.

Now that modern technology has given us a steady, year-round supply of fresh gruit and vegetables, our dietary need for ramps as a spring tonic has diminished. But to mountain folk, especially those in central West Virginia and western North Carolina where the tradition still lingers, the social medicine conferred by ramps is an integral rite of spring, a spiritual need.

How the ramp doeth grow
In late winter or very early spring, each bulb sends up two or three broad, smooth, ovate leaves--similar to those of lily-of-the-valley--from the leaf litter on the forest floor. Eventually growing 8 to 12 inches tall, these leaves show deep maroon streaking at the base and up along the parellel veins. Ramps reproduce by both bulb offsets and seeds, and large colonies can blanket a hillside.

By late spring or early summer, as the tall canopy of trees leafs out and begins to shade the ground, the ramp's leaves wither and die, leaving only a single bud on a naked stalk. This bud opens in June or July to form a spherical cluster (umbel) of creamy white florets. Each quarter-inch flower has three sepals and three petals and produces a three-lobed seed capsule. After the ramp has finished blooming, it goes into dormancy, which lasts through the driest, hottest days of summer, fall, and the worst of winter's cold, recommencing its activity as the weather begins to moderate in March or April.

*Article written in part by M.J. McCormick for Herb Companion; March 1991.