Tab. 7875. 



ALLIUM Ellisii. 



Native of Khorasan. 



Nat. Ord. Liliace.*. — Tribe Allie m. 

 Genua Allium, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 802.) 



Allium (Melanocrommyon) Ellisii ; bulbo magno globoso, foliis 4-5 patenti- 

 revolutispedalibus2| poll.latis linearibus lineari-oblongiave acutis palhde 

 glauco-viridibus fere planis nervis ob^curis, soapo pedali crasso § poll, 

 diam. viridi basi tantuui folioso, spathae valvia deltoideo-ovatis acumi- 

 natis membranaceis ad H poll, longis, floribns H poll. diam. in capitulum 

 5 poll. diam. oblato-spbaTricum dense congestis, pedicellis subasquilongis 

 rlore subdnplo longionbus, perianthii roaei basi intus albi segmentis ovato- 

 lanceolatis acuminatis fructiferis^ rigidis erectis, filamantis crassiuscuhs 

 rubr 

 bosc 



globose, 



parva depresso-globosa perianthii segmentis bis-terve breviore, loculis 

 dorso rotuadatis 1-spermis, seminibus subreniformi-oblongis rotundatisve 

 ad T V poll, longis, testa atra rugosa. 



Allium Ellisii is a very handsome species, resembling, 

 in some respects of foliage, stoutness of scape and dense- 

 flowered, globose umbel A. Karataviense, Regel, of Tur- 

 kestan, t. 6451, which is a normally two-leaved species, 

 with much smaller, paler flowers, narrower, flaccid 

 perianth-segments, which are spreading or reflexed in 

 fruit, and a much larger capsule. My friend, Dr. Stapf, 

 whose travels in Persia and knowledge of the Oriental flora 

 are so well known, has carefully examined A. Ellisii, and 

 informs me that it belongs to the same group as A. caspium, 

 Bieb. t. 4598, A. brahuicum, Boiss., A. Schuberti, Zucc, t. 

 7587-8, and A. Bodeanam, Regel, all oriental species, with 

 the perianth-segments erect in fruit ; and that it is most 

 nearly allied to the last of these. From the first 

 three, the shorter pedicels and dense-fld. umbels at 

 once distinguishes B. Ellisii, from which A. Bodeanum 

 differs (according to the description in Boissier's " Flora 

 Orientalis") in the much narrower perianth-segments, 

 which are white, with a slender pink midrib, and in the 

 shorter stamens only half the length of the perianth, with 

 the filaments sub-biauricled at the base. In the few 

 capsules of A. Ellisii which I have examined, the cells are 



January lsi, 1903. 



