Those small black balls are the seeds.

Thank you! I was hiking in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan in the late summer and saw these flowers going into seed and wondered what they were. Brought one home to New York, but never figured out what it was (rounded shape might have suggested onion family, but didn't think of that). And here you've posted a nice picture of it, with identification! Too bad -- I think I just threw them away, not knowing what they were. Wouldn't have minded planting them.

Ladyslppr, thank you for that confirmation. I was pretty sure they were, but I haven't lived here long enough to be that familiar with the native plants. I still have a lot to learn about the native plants in the area here. As much as I like many of the regular garden plants, natives hold a special place. Here's hoping the seeds, which have now all fallen off the spikes, sprout, grow and thrive.

Davidl, too bad you threw them away. The flavor of the wild leeks is something...unique. LOL I like it, which is why I'd been out digging leeks in the first place. They're an interesting plant in the garden, too.

Thanks again, to both of you, for your response.

Funny, I've dug ramps outside of Bradford PA myself on many occasions. One time I brought home a cooler of them and later found I had inadvertently kidnapped a spotted salamander as well. Had to fedex the little guy back to his home.

I mostly dig them locally here on Long Island now. My captive, backyard ramps have increased from two to a patch of well over two dozen in maybe 5 years. They do produce seed but dunno if they have seeded themselves or increased by offsets.

Ramps, scambled eggs and morels mmmmmmmm....... now that's spring!

allium tricoccum is an interesting plant; it is one of the first to emerge in the spring (one year after a hard winter, it was even eaten by deer), The leaves die back and then in the summer the flowers emerge followed by the black seeds giving three seasons of interest. And yes, they do seed. I am having to rip out a hundred or more plants to keep it confined to where I want it.

I hope those of you digging wild leeks are doing it on land you personally own. Otherwise, it is illegal and stealing.

Digging a plant kills it, as the edible bulb is the part that would grow again. They take six to seven years from seed to grow to flowering and edible size.

Does anyone here have experience growing ramps from seed? I'm going to plant ramp seeds in my yard this year, and would like to hear about your experiences growing them. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: where I bought my ramp seeds from

Well, stoloniferous, it appears not to be to hard to grow ramps from seed. I finally found the seeds I brought back from Michigan in the Fall of 2006 in a baggie in my kitchen months after picking them. Sowed them in a pot of moistened seed starter in Fall, 2007, and left them on the screened porch, covered, all winter. They started germinating last week, really early where they were, temperature still going down to the teens and low 20's at night, nothing else outside coming up.

You might check, but they may need to be moist stratified in order to germinate. That is, kept in moist soil or seed starting mixture for 2-3 months at temperatures usually below 40 degrees. If you sow them right now, they may not come up 'til next year.

Common wisdom seems to be that ramps need a double dormancy period, so germination may not come first year. Also, they are very slow growing, and take four to five years to form a bulb. For one thing, this means that wild harvesting puts real population pressures on them, especially because they have become so popular. Good to grow your own, if they don't get out of hand.