Allium tuberosum |
Allium scilloides |
|
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Chinese chive, garlic chives, oriental garlic |
fragile onion, scilla-like 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. |
1–5, not clustered on stout, primary rhizome, increase bulbs ± equaling parent bulbs, never appearing as basal cluster, rhizomes absent, globose to ovoid, 1–2 cm × 8–20 mm; outer coats enclosing renewal bulbs, reddish or brownish, membranous, lacking cellular reticulation or cells arranged in only 2–3 rows distal to roots, ± quadrate, without fibers; inner coats white or light brown, cells absent or obscure and ± quadrate. |
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. |
deciduous with scape after seeds mature, 2, basally sheathing, sheaths not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flat, falcate, 6–15 cm × 2–4 mm, margins entire or obscurely papillose. |
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, strongly flattened, 2-edged or winged distally, wings obscurely papillose, 4–8 cm × 1–3 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. |
decisuous with scape, erect, compact, 5–12-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2–3, 3-veined, broadly ovate, ± equal, apex acute. |
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. |
campanulate, 6–8 mm; tepals erect, white or pinkish with green midribs, becoming reddish purple, broadly elliptic-oblong, ± equal, becoming rigid, papery and ± connivent over fruit, margins entire, apex obtuse, not involute at tip; stamens included; anthers purple; pollen white to gray; ovary crestless or obscurely crested; processes 3, central, rounded, margins entire; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed or minutely 3-lobed; pedicel 2–10.5(–18.5 in fruit) mm. |
Seed | coat shining; cells smooth, irregularly shaped, with ± sinuous walls. |
coat dull; cells smooth. |
2n | = 14. |
|
Allium tuberosum |
Allium scilloides |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Apr. |
Habitat | Roadsides and other disturbed ground | Barren, gravelly soils, arid interior slopes and ridges well back from Columbia River |
Elevation | 300–1300 m (1000–4300 ft) | |
Distribution |
IA; NE; WI; se Asia [Introduced in North America]
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WA
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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.) |
Of conservation concern. Allium scilloides is known only from east of the Cascades. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 240. | FNA vol. 26, p. 275. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Rottler ex Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 2: 38. (1825) | Douglas ex S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14: 229. (1879) |
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