Allium vineale |
Allium praecox |
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cow garlic, crow garlic, field garlic, short-beak agoseris, vineyard onion, wild chives, wild garlic |
early onion |
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Bulbs | 5–20, clustered, stipitate, hard-shelled, asymmetric, ovoid, 1–2 × 1–2 cm; outer coats enclosing bulbs, brownish to yellowish, membranous, vertically striate, splitting into parallel strips and fibers, cells arranged in ± wavy rows, vertical; inner coats white to light brown, cells obscure, vertically elongate. |
1–3, increase bulbs absent or ± equaling parent bulbs, never appearing as basal cluster, not clustered on stout primary rhizome, ovoid to globose, 1–1.8 × 1–1.7 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, gray-brown to brown, prominently cellular-reticulate, membranous, cells arranged in ± vertical rows, forming irregular herringbone pattern, transversely elongate, V-shaped, without fibers; inner coats white, cells obscure, ± transversely elongate, contorted. |
Leaves | persistent, green at anthesis, 2–4, sheathing at least proximal 1/2 scape; blade hollow below middle, terete, cylindric or filiform, not carinate, 20–60 cm × 2–4 mm, margins entire. |
persistent, withering from tip by anthesis, 2–3, basally sheathing, sheaths not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flat, broadly channeled, carinate, 20–75 cm × 5–10 mm, margins entire. |
Scape | persistent, solitary, erect, terete, 30–120 cm × 1.5–4 mm. |
persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 20–60 cm × 2–4 mm. |
Umbel | persistent, erect, ± compact, 0–50-flowered, subglobose to ovoid or hemispheric, flowering pedicels all or in part replaced by bulbils; bulbils sessile, basally narrowed, 4–6 × 2–3 mm; spathe bract caducous, 1, 2–several-veined, ovate, apex caudate, beaked, beak ± equaling or longer than base. |
shattering after seeds mature, each flower deciduous with its pedicel as a unit, erect, loose, 5–40-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 5–7-veined, lanceolate to lance-ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. |
Flowers | campanulate, 3–4 mm; tepals erect, greenish to purple, elliptic-lanceolate, ± equal, withering in fruit, margins entire, apex obtuse; stamens exserted, outer 3 filaments without appendages, inner 3 filaments with 2 prominent lateral appendages; anthers purple; pollen white; ovary crestless; style exserted, linear, ± equaling stamen; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; flowering pedicel 10–20 mm. |
stellate, 6–13 mm; tepals spreading at anthesis, white to pale pink with purple midveins, lance-ovate to ovate, ± equal, becoming papery and connivent over capsule, margins entire, apex acute, obtuse, or emarginate; stamens included; anthers purple and yellow; pollen yellow; ovary crested; processes 3, central, 2-lobed, minute, margins entire; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; pedicel 15–40 mm. |
Seed | coat shining; cells smooth. |
coat shining; cells minutely roughened. |
2n | = 32, 40. |
= 14. |
Allium vineale |
Allium praecox |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Disturbed areas often adjacent to agricultural lands | Clay soil on shaded, grassy slopes near coast |
Elevation | 0–700 m (0–2300 ft) | 50–800 m (200–2600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; WV; ON; QC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Allium vineale is also expected to be found in Wisconsin and Texas; specimens were not seen. It is a noxious weed, apparently introduced from Europe in colonial times. The small, wheat-sized bulbils frequently contaminated wheat grown in infested areas. Bread made from such wheat was garlic-flavored, and cows grazing in infested pastures produce garlic-flavored milk. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 237. | FNA vol. 26, p. 263. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. hyalinum var. praecox | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 299. (1753) | Brandegee: Zoë 5: 228. (1906) |
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