Relatives

Allium angulosum L. - Mouse garlic.

Taxonomic position.

Family Alliaceae J.Agardh, genus Allium L.

Synonymy.

Allium acutangulum Cat., A. laxum Don

Morphology and biology.

Perennial. Geophyte. Bulbous. Bulbs conical-cylindric, 0.5-0.75 cm diam., with grayish scarious tunics, arranged in 1(2) on horizontal rhizome. Stem 25-60 cm tall, angulous, slender. Leaves 5-6, condensed at the stem base, narrow, linear, flat, obtuse, smooth, longer than one half of the stem. Umbel many-flowered, rather lax, with pedicels rising obliquely upward. Pedicels equal to each other, 2-4 times as long as tepals. Tepals of broadly campanulate perianth pink-violet, with slightly distinct vein, oblong, acute at the apex, 6(7) mm long. Filaments slightly shorter than tepals, at the very base fused to each other and with perianth, entire, inner ones slightly wider than outer ones. Style not protuding from the perianth. Autochore. Flowers in June, fruits in August. 2n=16.

Distribution.

Central Europe, European Russia, West Siberia (south), Kazakhstan (north).

Ecology.

Mesophyte. Light-loving. In flood-plain meadows, birch .insular. groves.

Use and economic value.

Food (vegetable), ornamental. Wild relative of cultivated onions.

References:

Friesen NV. 1988. Onion plants of Siberia. Novosibirsk: Nauka. P.103. (In Russian).
Malyshev LI., Peshkova GA., ed. 1987. Flora of Siberia. V.4. Araceae - Orchidaceae. P.65-66. (In Russian).
Vvedensky AI. 1935. Onion . Allium L. In: Komarov VL., ed. Flora URSS. V.4. Moscow; Leningrad: AN SSSR. P.164. (In Russian).

© I.G. Chukhina

© Photo by N.V.Friesen