Allium kunthii |
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Kunth's onion |
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Bulbs | 1–4+, rhizomes, if present, secondary, inconspicuous, 2 cm or less including renewal bulb, ± thick, terminated by new bulb, parent bulbs disappearing by anthesis except for still-functional roots and bulb coat, not basally clustered, ovoid, 1–2 × 0.8–1.5 cm; outer coats enclosing renewal bulbs or not, grayish or brownish, with or without obscure, delicate, cellular markings, sometimes striate, membranous, cells elongate, in regular vertical rows, without fibers; inner bulb coats whitish or pinkish, cells obscure, ± quadrate or rectangular and vertically elongate. |
Leaves | persistent, green at anthesis, 2–5, basally sheathing, sheaths not extended much above soil surface; blade solid, flat, channeled, 10–21 cm × 1–3 mm, margins and veins sometimes denticulate. |
Scape | persistent, solitary, occasionally 2 or more produced successively from single bulb, erect, solid, terete, 15–30 cm × 1–3 mm. |
Umbel | persistent, erect, loose, 5–20-flowered, conic, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 3–5-veined, lanceolate, apex acuminate. |
Flowers | stellate to campanulate, 4–8 mm; tepals ± spreading, white or pale pink (particularly on midribs), lanceolate, ± equal, becoming papery and withering in fruit, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate; stamens included; anthers yellow or purple; pollen yellow; ovary crestless; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed; pedicel unequal, 10–20 mm. |
Seed | coat dull; cells ± smooth. |
2n | = 14. |
Allium kunthii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. |
Habitat | Dry, rocky hills and mountains, usually in limestone soils |
Elevation | 700–3000 m (2300–9800 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
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Discussion | Allium longifolium (Kunth) Sprengel (1825), based on Schoenoprasum longifolium Kunth (1816), may be the same as A. kunthii; the type material is inadequate for definite determination. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 257. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | A. scaposum, Schoenoprasum lineare |
Name authority | G. Don: Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. 6: 82. (1827) |
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