Allium geyeri |
Allium nigrum |
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Geyer's onion |
black garlic, Homer's garlic |
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Bulbs | 2–10+, not rhizomatous, ovoid or more elongate, 1–2.5 × 0.8–2 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, gray or brown, reticulate, cells rather coarse-meshed, open, fibrous; inner coats whitish, cells vertically elongate and regular or obscure. |
3–4, not clustered on stout, primary rhizomes, ovoid, asymmetric, 2.5–3 × 2–5 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, light yellow to light brown, thin, papery, chartaceous, cells narrow, vertically elongate, without fibers; inner coats white, cells narrow, vertically elongate. |
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Leaves | persistent, usually green at anthesis, usually 3–5, sheathing less than 1/4 scape; blade solid, ± straight, flat, channeled, (6–)12–30 cm × 1–3(–5) mm, margins entire or denticulate. |
usually persistent, 3–6, scarcely ensheathing scape even basally, sheaths not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flat, broadly channeled, 10–60 cm × 10–25 mm, margins entire. |
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Scape | persistent, solitary, erect, terete or somewhat 2-angled, 10–50 cm × 1–3 mm. |
usually persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, fistulose, 60–100 cm × 5–10 mm. |
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Umbel | persistent, erect, compact, 10–25-flowered, hemispheric to globose, not producing bulbils, or 0–5-flowered, largely replaced by ovoid, acuminate bulbils; spathe bracts persistent, 2–3, mostly 1-veined, ovate to lanceolate, ± equal, apex acuminate, beakless. |
persistent, erect, compact, 75–150-flowered, hemispheric-globose, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2–4, 11+-veined, ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. |
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Flowers | urceolate-campanulate, (4–)6–8(–10) mm; tepals erect or spreading, pink to white, ovate to lanceolate, ± equal, not withering in fruit and permanently investing fruit, or withering if fruit not produced, midribs papillose, becoming callous-keeled, margins often obscurely toothed, apex obtuse to acuminate; stamens included; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; ovary when present, inconspicuously crested; processes 6, central, low, distinct or connate in pairs across septa, ± erect, rounded, margins entire, becoming variously developed or obsolete in fruit; style linear, ± equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed or obscurely lobed; pedicel becoming rigid and stiffly spreading in fruit, 8–13 mm. |
stellate to subcampanulate, 6–9 mm; tepals ± spreading, white with green midvein, narrowly oblong, ± equal, becoming ± rigid and reflexed in fruiting, margins entire, apex obtuse; stamens included; anthers yellow or purple, aborting without producing pollen; ovary crestless; style linear, ± equaling tepals; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, obscurely 3-lobed; pedicel 25–40 mm. |
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Seed | coat shining; cells each with minute, central papilla. |
coat not known. |
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Allium geyeri |
Allium nigrum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun. | |||||
Habitat | Disturbed roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
w North America
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OR; native to Mediterranean; cultivated in Europe [Introduced in North America] |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Native to the Mediterranean and long-cultivated in Europe, Allium nigrum is reported to be well established near Perrydale, Oregon, and may be expected elsewhere in North America. This species is remarkable in its lack of an onion/garlic odor. It is also unusual in having more than two ovules in each locule, a characteristic of sect. Melanocrommyum Webb & Berthelot but otherwise unusual in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 237. | FNA vol. 26, p. 243. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14: 227. (1879) | : Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 430. (1762) | ||||
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