Allium geyeri |
Allium schoenoprasum |
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Geyer's onion |
chive, wild chives |
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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. |
1 or more, clustered, short-rhizomatous at base, cylindric, elongate, 0.5–0.9 × 1.5–2 cm; outer coats enclosing bulbs, grayish or brownish, persisting as fibrous reticulum but often appearing membranous as outer coats are lost during collecting, cells minutely striate; inner coats whitish or pinkish, cells closely parallel, 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. |
persistent, green at anthesis, usually 2, distalmost usually ensheathing 1/3–1/2 scape; blade hollow, terete, fistulose, 20–60 cm × 2–7 mm. |
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Scape | persistent, solitary, erect, terete or somewhat 2-angled, 10–50 cm × 1–3 mm. |
persistent, 2–12+, clustered, erect, terete, fistulose, 20–50 cm × 3–5 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, 30–50-flowered, ± subglobose, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 3–7-veined, lanceolate to broadly ovate, ± equal, apex short-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. |
campanulate, 8–12 mm; tepals erect, pale purple to deep lilac, drying pink, particularly on midrib, or white, elliptic to lanceolate, ± equal, becoming papery in fruit, permanently investing capsule, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, tips ± recurved, midribs not thickened; stamens included; anthers purple; pollen white; ovary crestless; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed or obscurely lobed; pedicel 2–6 mm. |
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Seed | coat shining; cells each with minute, central papilla. |
coat shining; cells minutely roughened, not pustuliferous. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Allium geyeri |
Allium schoenoprasum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Wet meadows, rocky or gravelly stream banks and lake shores, circumboreal | |||||
Elevation | 0–3500 m (0–11500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
w North America
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AK; CO; CT; ID; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Siberia
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Allium schoenoprasum is native in North America, but it is also cultivated and has widely escaped. It is an extremely polymorphic species, and throughout its range both large and small races occur. These plants have been known as A. sibiricum, A. schoenoprasum var. sibiricum, or A. schoenoprasum var. laurentianum, and many, largely unsuccessful, attempts have been made to distinguish the varieties. Until the variation can be worked out along natural lines, if any, instead of unstable features such as plant size, and color and shape of the tepals, recognition of these varieties is unsound. Because we are unable to separate native populations from many of the escaped ones, we cannot reliably map the native distribution of this taxon in the flora. (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. 240. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | A. schoenoprasum var. laurentianum, A. schoenoprasum var. sibiricum, A. sibiricum | |||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14: 227. (1879) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 301. (1753) | ||||
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