What are these plants?

These wide leafed plants are commonly known in Appalachia as “ramps” and farther north they are called “wild leeks.” Ramps can be found growing in patches in rich, moist, deciduous forests in eastern North America. They emerge when the soil temperatures increase after snow melt, and before the shrub and tree canopy closes. They are popular in the cuisines of the rural uplands of the American South, and also in the Canadian province of Quebec. Wild ramps also have a growing popularity in upscale restaurants throughout North America.

Both wild onions and wild garlic, common in open areas such as lawns, are not easily confused with ramps. The lily of the valley (written also as lily-of-the-valley), is considered a poisonous look-alike, but there are good ways to tell them apart.

Smell is the easiest identifier by far. Lily of the valley has no smell when the leaves are torn, but ramps smell very strongly of onion and garlic. Also,ramps emerge from a bulb and have rootlets at the very end of it. Lily of the valley does not have bulbs: The rhizome rooting system of lily of the valley forms a fibrous network underground.