Tas. 7290. 
ALLIUM xkansunense. 
Native of Tibet and Western China. 
Nat. Ord. Litiaczeam. Tribe ALLIEz. 
Genus Attium, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 802.) 
Autium (Rhiziridium) kansunense; bulbis angustis elongatis dense cespi- 
tosis, e basibus rhizoma gracile gerentibus, tunicis fibrosis, follis 
anguste linearibus' facie canaliculatis, scapo gracili tereti elongato, um- 
bellis capitatis multifloris, spathi parva ovata monophylla decidua, 
pedicellis brevibus, perianthio campanulato cosruleo, segmentis oblongis 
obtusis diu imbricatis, staminibus perianthio brevioribus, filamentis 
abe exterioribus basi dilatatis obscure tricuspidatis, stylo ovario 
reviori. 
A. kansunense, Regel Descr. Plant. Nov. Hort. Petrop. 1889, p. 6. 
A. cyaneum var. brachystemon, Regel in Act. Hort. Petrop. vol. x. p. 346. 
A large number of new species of Alliwm have been 
discovered during the last twenty years through the ex- 
plorations of the Russian botanists in Central Asia. The 
late Dr. Regel published, in 1875, an excellent monograph 
of the whole genus, and in 1887 he re-worked the 
whole of the Northern and Central Asian species, of 
_ which about two hundred are now known. The present 
plant is quite hardy and is remarkable for its dense heads 
of bright blue flowers. In this respect it resembles A. 
ceruleum, Pallas (figured Bot. Reg., vol. xxvi., tab. 51). 
Its filaments are obscurely tricuspidate at the base, so that 
botanically it falls into the small group of species that 
form a connecting link between the two large sections 
Rhiziridium and Porrum. The wild specimens in the Kew 
‘Herbarium were collected by Przewalski in Northern 
‘Tibet and the West Chinese province of Kansu in the 
_ Tangut district. Our drawing was made from a plant 
_ that flowered at Kew last summer, the bulbs of which were 
Sent to the Royal Gardens by Dr. Regel. It was one of 
_ the last plants which he described. 
Arrit Isr, 1893. 
