Find videos, resources and activities for teaching civic education in WV classrooms.
Nominate an exceptional West Virginia teacher today!
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
If you’re from Canada, the eastern United States, or Appalachia, you’re probably very familiar with a local forest delicacy – the wild onion species of Allium triccocum – best known as ramps. From church hall pot-lucks to outdoor festivals, the wild ramp is widely celebrated this time of year.
But not much is known about a related species of the edible ramp, a species called the Narrow-Leaved Leek, or Allium burdickii. And this lesser known plant is often misidentified.
Eric Burkhart, Ph.D., is Associate Teaching Professor of Ecosystem Science and Management at Penn State University and Program Director of Appalachian Botany and Ethnobotany at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. Burkhart is leading a team of researchers in a study of the lesser known plant at various sites in Pennsylvania.
They point out that the Narrow-Leaved Leek (Allium burdickii) has a much stronger scent, even unpleasant, when compared to the variety of ramp (Allium triccocum) we harvest, cook and consume. They’re much smaller plants with more narrow leaves, and the stems are always green.The Allium tricoccum, in contrast, has broader leaves and the stems can be either green or red.
Burkhart also notes the flower-heads of these plants are shaped differently. The broad leaf ramp has a round snow-ball shaped flower head when in bloom. The Narrow-Leaved Leek has a V- shaped flower head, and much fewer blooms.
The UP researchers will attempt to learn an array of distinguishing traits between the two varieties of plants. They’re growing their sample plants side-by-side in common garden sites, so comparisons will be made under identical environmental conditions. They’ll document the DNA of the 2 species, and test their phytochemistry (which are chemicals derived from plants).
Since documentation on Allium burdickii is so sporadic and there have been so few studies to date, Burkhart says we should not assume it is edible and we should not attempt to harvest it.
More high school students in West Virginia are graduating now than in 2013, and there are new improvements in early education milestones as well, according to data from the West Virginia Dept. of Education.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThe West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) has approved yet another round of difficult school closures and consolidations throughout the Mountain State.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsWe listen to the latest story from The Allegheny Front, a public radio program based in Pittsburgh. In their latest story, organizers of a custom mapping project hope it stirs more interest in the Mon River.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsFive county school superintendents presented a review of the state’s Public Education Code to the Joint Standing Committee on Education Sunday.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
