Few-flowered Leek

You may have spotted (and smelled!) this plant covering certain areas of Easter Craiglockhart Hill recently. With long, thin leaves, drooping white flowers, and distinctive onion smell, Few-flowered Leek is often mistaken for Wild Garlic, but this edible plant is actually a non-native invasive species. It begins growing in March, and grows so rapidly and thickly that it out-competes the other native plants it grows alongside, and spreads quickly due to the many bulbils each plant produces.

All of this plant is edible, the leaves, flowers, and bulbils. It tastes quite like spring onion, but quickly loses its pungency when cooked. The bulbils can be pickled in vinegar for a tasty treat, and by collecting the bulbils you are helping to stem the spread of this plant in the future.   

If you do pick any please make sure you wash it thoroughly before eating, and be careful with what you pick as few-flowered leek grows alongside snowdrops, bluebells, and daffodils, which are all toxic.