grimDo you live in South East Scotland? Do you fancy the idea of unlimited garlic?
Got some Great News for you!!!
There is an invasive species known as the Few-flowered Leek that entered Scotland around Edinburgh a while back. It is a problem since it reproduces asexually -- its flowers aren't good for pollinators, and it clones itself into dense "fields" that have no room for anything else. It pushes out bluebells and native wild garlic.
๐ง and it is Garlic, and the entire plant is edible!!! ๐ง
Rip that stuff up!!! Cook it, make it into pesto and soup. Store it in oil.
Be sure to check your boots after, it spreads by hitching a ride using its round, white/green bulbils.
It can be distinguished from the native species as it has narrow leaves, the native one has wide leaves. It can be distinguished from inedible plants due to the strong garlic smell.
Log your records on fallingfruit so others can find them: https://beta.fallingfruit.org/map/@55.9157005,-3.1058607,11z
Images:
1) A patch of the invasive.
2) A close-up of the plant, showing the bulbils (clones).
3) A shopping bag full of the stuff. I've taken three bags full from the patch in (1) but it's far from gone.
4) All of the green on the ground here (found this patch in Edinburgh) is the invasive.
#foraging #scotland #invasivespecies #edinburgh #fife #lothians #garlic #onion #leek #allium #alliumparadoxum #nature #environment
SW20ed #Edinburgh
Jim Richmond ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ๐ทโณ๏ธ ๐๐ช๐บ๐
Lauren Hall-Lew
Code Division