Uncommon wildflowers, part five. Allium ursinum is certainly not a rare species. Ramsons can be rampant in damp, shady places but wild plants are prolific only in the conditions that suit them. 

  A wet woodland teeming -and reeking- of 'Wild Garlic' is common enough in the West Country or Wales but scarce in Eastern England. Habitat loss has some bearing on that but as a rule of thumb westerly is wetter whereas East Anglia is classed as semi-arid.

 The free draining chalky soil around Hitchin is not conducive to A. ursinum. Nonetheless there is a damp dell carpeted with Ramsons near Sootfield Green. It's remarkable to think they must have colonised this spot after the ice age and have been growing here ever since.