1909. Adams^ — Allium oleraceum in Ireland^ in 



OX THE OCCURRENCE OF ALLIUM OLERACEUM 



LINN. IN IRELAND. 



BY J. ADAMS, M.A. 



For the last ten 5'ears I have been acquainted with a species 

 of Allium growing on the banks of the Six-Mile-Water at 

 Antrim. As Allhim vineale Linn, had been recorded from 

 that neighbourhood, I thought the plants collected must be 

 abnormal specimens of that species, though I could not re- 

 concile chem with the descriptions given of it. At the time 

 of flowering the lower lea^'es had completely withered awa}', 

 so in order to see what these were like I dug up some of the 

 bulbs and planted them in my garden, where I could observe 

 them all the 3'ear round. When the young leaves came up in 

 the following spring they were channelled on the upper side. 

 Bulbils were freeh^ produced among the flowers, and on falling 

 on to the surface of the soil the}' readil}' took root. The con- 

 clusion I came to finall}' was that the species was Allium 

 oleraceum Linn. On forwarding specimens to Dr. Rendle, of 

 the British Museum, he confirmed my identification. 



As I could never find Allium vi?ieale Linn, anj'where in the 

 neighbourhood of Antrim, the thought occurred to me that 

 possibly a mistake had been made in its identification. It 

 seemed advisable, therefore, to look up all the specimens of 

 Allium vineale Linn, collected in that localit}' to see if they 

 were correctl}' named. 



Among the specimens of A. vineale Linn, in the National 

 Museum there was one labelled "■Allium vinecde Linn. Damp 

 waste ground, Antrim. Aug., 1888." This, however, turned 

 out to be A. oleraceum Linn. In the herbarium of the Queen's 

 University, Belfast, there was one specimen collected in 

 "Aug., 1886," from a "pasture at Antrim,'' which was Allium 

 oleraceum, although labelled as A. vineale I am indebted to 

 Prof. Gregg Wilson for his kindness in enabling me to see 

 this specimen. The Rev. C H. Waddell kindl> looked up for 

 me a specimen in the Belfast Museum, and on a later occasion 

 through the courtes}' of the Curator, 1 was able to see the 



