Allium tuberosum |
Allium hoffmanii |
|
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Chinese chive, garlic chives, oriental garlic |
beegum onion |
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Bulbs | 1–3, borne on stout, ± horizontal rhizome, elongate, cylindric or conic, 0.5–1.5 × 0.7–2 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, brown, reticulate, cells ± fine-meshed, open, fibrous; inner coats white, cells closely parallel, elongate. |
usually solitary, not clustered on stout primary rhizomes, ovoid, 1.5–2.5 × 1–1.5 cm; outer coats enclosing single bulb, brown or gray, membranous, lacking cellular reticulation or cells arranged in only 2–3 rows distal to roots, ± quadrate, without fibers; inner coats white or pink, cells not visible. |
Leaves | withering from tip by anthesis, 2–5, sheathing scape to ± soil level; blade solid, flat, carinate abaxially, 20–40 cm × 2–6 mm, margins entire. |
usually deciduous with scape, withering from tip at anthesis, 1, basally sheathing, sheath not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flat or broadly channeled, ± falcate, 10–22 cm × 4–8 mm, margins entire. |
Scape | persistent, solitary, erect, terete, 30–50 cm × 1–3 mm. |
usually forming abcission layer and deciduous with leaves after seeds mature, frequently breaking at this level after pressing, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 5–10 cm × 0.5–2 mm. |
Umbel | persistent, erect, loose, 20–50-flowered, hemispheric-globose, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 1–3, 3–7-veined, lance-ovate, shorter than pedicel, apex acuminate. |
persistent, erect, compact, 10–40-flowered, globose to conic, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 3–4, 3-veined, ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. |
Flowers | substellate, 4–9 mm; tepals spreading, white with green or brownish midveins, lanceolate to elliptic, ± equal, withering and exposing capsule, margins entire, apex obtuse or acute; stamens included; anthers purple; pollen white; ovary crestless; style linear, ± equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed; pedicel 10–30 mm. |
conical to campanulate, 8–10 mm; tepals strictly erect, pink to purplish with prominent greenish midvein, linear-lanceolate, ± equal, becoming membranous, withering in fruit, margins entire, apex acuminate; stamens exserted; filaments papillose-glandular proximally; anthers purple; pollen yellow or gray; ovary crested; processes 6, obscure, central, low, rounded, margins entire; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, obscurely 3-lobed; pedicel 8–15 mm. |
Seed | coat shining; cells smooth, irregularly shaped, with ± sinuous walls. |
coat dull; cells smooth. |
2n | = 14. |
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Allium tuberosum |
Allium hoffmanii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | Flowering Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Roadsides and other disturbed ground | Serpentine clay |
Elevation | 1100–1800 m (3600–5900 ft) | |
Distribution |
IA; NE; WI; se Asia [Introduced in North America]
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CA |
Discussion | Allium tuberosum is cultivated in China, Siberia, and North America, and is reported to be established in New England. It may escape anywhere the species is cultivated. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 240. | FNA vol. 26, p. 273. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Rottler ex Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 2: 38. (1825) | Ownbey ex Traub: Pl. Life 28: 63. (1972) |
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