Relatives
Allium prostratum L. - Prostrate onion.
Taxonomic position.
Family Alliaceae J.Agardh, genus Allium L.Morphology and biology.
Perennial. Geophyte. Bulbous. Bulbs conical, 0.5-0.75 cm diameter, with brownish scarious, more or less entire tunics, and violet root beards, arranged in 1-2 on horizontal rhizome. Scape 10-25 cm tall, slender, slightly ribbed, acsending. Leaves 3-5, semicylindrical, narrow, 0.7-1.5 mm wide, channelled in lower part, slightly shorter than scape, scabrous at margins. Umbel few-flowered, lax, semispherical. Pedicels equal to each other, 1.5-2 times as long as tepals, without bracts at the base. Tepals pink-violet, oblong or oblong-ovate, obtuse, outer ones boat-shaped. Filaments subequal to tepals, at the very base fused with each other and with perianth, entire, subulate, inner ones 1.5 times as wide as outer ones. Style exserted from perianth. Autochore. Flowers and fruits in July. 2n=16.Distribution.
East Siberia (Buryatia, Chita Region, Yakutia), Mongolia.Ecology.
Xerophyte. Photophilous. On steppe stony and debris slopes, shingles, in foothills and lower montane zone.Use and economic value.
Wild relative of cultivated onions.References:
Friesen NV. 1988. Onion plants of Siberia. Novosibirsk: Nauka. P. 115. (In Russian).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.166. (In Russian).