…or, to be more precise, when the weather warms up in spring, you might come across a plant with a small white flower and a pungent aroma that smells like garlic. The plant, Allium ursinum, is a member of the onion family (Allium) and is also known as bear’s garlic. It is commonly eaten by brown bears coming out of hibernation — hence its specific name ursinum, from the Latin word for bear.
The plant grows in shady woodlands and can be identified by its cluster of white flowers seen in early springtime, before deciduous trees produce their leaves. The fact that you can easily smell the plant is due to the chemical allyl methyl sulphide, which is released when cysteine sulphoxides, made by the plant, are broken down. It is the same chemical that is produced following digestion of the garlic that is used extensively to add flavour to our food.
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