Allium unifolium |
Allium shevockii |
|
---|---|---|
American garlic, one-leaf onion |
Spanish needle onion |
|
Bulbs | solitary, replaced annually by new bulbs borne terminally on secondary rhizome; rhizomes 1–3, conspicuous, to 5 cm, smooth; parent bulbs disappearing by anthesis except for still-functional roots and bulb coat, ovoid to oblique-ovoid, 1–2 × 0.8–1.5 cm; outer coats not enclosing bulbs, pale brown, delicately cellular-reticulate, membranous, cells ± rectangular, without fibers; inner coats white, cells obscure, ± transversely elongate, contorted. |
2–10+, forming threadlike rhizomes, rhizomes 3–10 cm, terminated by bulbels and/or 1–2 basal bulbels that in turn may produce threadlike rhizomes, ± globose, 1–1.5 × 1–1.5 cm; outer coats enclosing single bulb, brown, membranous, lacking cellular reticulation or cells arranged in only 2–3 rows distal to roots, ± quadrate, without fibers; inner coats light yellow, turning reddish on drying, cells obscure, ± quadrate. |
Leaves | persistent, green or withering from tip at anthesis, 2–3, basally sheathing, sheaths not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flattened, sometimes carinate abaxially, ± falcate, 18–50 cm × 4–10 mm, margins entire. |
persistent, withering from tip by anthesis, 1, basally sheathing, sheath not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, terete, 20–40 cm × 2–4 mm. |
Scape | persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 20–80 cm × 2–7 mm. |
persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 10–20+ cm × 1–5 mm. |
Umbel | persistent, erect, loose, 15–35-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 6–8-veined, lance-ovate to broadly ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. |
persistent, erect, compact, 12–30-flowered, globose, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, usually 3, 5–7-veined, lanceolate, ± equal, apex apiculate. |
Flowers | stellate, 11–15 mm; tepals spreading, bright pink or rarely white, obovate to ovate, unequal, becoming papery and connivent over capsule, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse or emarginate, inner shorter and narrower than outer; stamens included; anthers yellow or purple; pollen yellow or gray; ovary crestless, 3-grooved, with thickened ridge on either side of groove; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed or obscurely 3-lobed; pedicel 15–40 mm. |
campanulate, 12–14 mm; tepals spreading, unequal; outer tepals maroon, oblanceolate, margins irregularly shallow-toothed, apex acute to mucronate, reflexed-curled; inner tepals maroon distally, white proximally, ovate, withering in fruit, curled back at tip, margins entire, apex acute, reflexed; stamens included; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; ovary crested; processes 6, prominent, narrowly triangular, margins entire, apex emarginate; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, 3-lobed, lobes slender, recurved; pedicel 10–16 mm. |
Seed | coat dull; cells minutely roughened. |
coat shining; cells minutely roughened. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Allium unifolium |
Allium shevockii |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Moist, clay soils, including serpentine, usually along streams | Soil pockets on schist outcrops |
Elevation | 0–1100 m (0–3600 ft) | 2200–2400 m (7200–7900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
|
CA |
Discussion | The long, relatively thick rhizomes that develop annually from the bulbs are very characteristic of Allium unifolium and almost unique in North America. Only A. glandulosum Link & Otto and A. rhizomatum Wooton & Standley have similar rhizomes, but these species are not closely related to A. unifolium. Allium unifolium is known only from the Coast Ranges. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Allium shevockii is known only from the upper slopes of Spanish Needle Peak in the southern Sierra Nevada and from Horse Canyon, Tehachapi Mountains. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 258. | FNA vol. 26, p. 252. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. grandisceptrum, A. unifolium var. lacteum | |
Name authority | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 112, fig. 35. (1863) | McNeal: Madroño 34: 150, fig. 1. (1987) |
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