Relatives
Allium rubens Schrader ex Willd. - Reddish onion.
Taxonomic position.
Family Alliaceae J.Agardh, genus Allium L.Synonyms.
Allium stellerianum auct. non Willd.Morphology and biology.
Perennial. Geophyte. Bulbous. Bulbs narrowly conical, 0.5-1 cm diameter, covered with brownish outer and violet inner, coriaceous tunics, arranged in 1-2 on horizontal rhizome. Root beards violet. Scape 10-30 cm tall, straight, slender, ribbed, smooth. Leaves semicylindrical (lower nearly cylindrical, above channelled), filiform-linear, scabrous at margins, aggregated at the scape base. Umbel many-flowered, lax, semispherical, less often subspherical. Pedicels 1.5-4 times as long as tepals. Tepals pink, with poorly distinct vein, broadly elliptic or ovate. Filaments subequal to or slightly longer than tepals, at the very base fused with each other and with perianth, entire, broadened at the base, inner ones 1.5 times as wide as outer ones. Style not exserted from perianth. Autochore. Flowers in June - August, fruits in late August - September. 2n=16.Distribution.
European Russia (Volga-Kama region), southern Urals, Kazakhstan, Siberia (Altai, Western Sayan, Tuva).Ecology.
Mesoxerophyte. Photophilous. On steppe stony and debris slopes, on rocks, up to middle montane zone.Use and economic value.
Wild relative of cultivated onions. May be used in selection work as a source of genes of downy mildew resistance.References:
Malyshev LI., Peshkova GA., ed. 1987. Flora of Siberia. V.4. Araceae - Orchidaceae. Novosibirsk: Nauka. (In Russian).Vvedensky AI. 1935. Onion . Allium L. In: Komarov VL., ed. Flora URSS. V.4. Moscow; Leningrad: AN SSSR. P.72-73. (In Russian).