Wild Leeks and Bee Stings
American
Indians used the juice of crushed wild leek bulbs to relieve insect stings.
The wild leek (Allium tricoccum) or "ramp," is a 6-18"
plant with 2 or 3 broad, smooth, basal leaves that appear in the spring
and wither before the flowers bloom in early summer.
The small greenish-white 1/2" flowers have 6 tepals* and are borne in a compact, upright umbel. Blooms June and July in rich, moist woods. The leaves and bulb smell and taste like an onion/garlic mix. Cooked and raw, it is eaten in ramp festivals in West Virginia and other parts of Applalachia in late April and early May before the flowers bloom. Ingestion of ramps produces a strong, interesting body odor.
Wild leeks, like the one pictured left can be found at forested locations from WPC's Bear Run Nature Reserve, in Fayette County, to the Allegheny National Forest in northern Pa.
* a tepal is the word for petals and sepals on flowers for which there is scance difference between the two.
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