484 ALLIUM. t^-'I-ASS VI. ORDER I. 



and the garlicj* Not only do they appear to have been cultivated as 

 a common article of food, but were esteemed one of their greatest 

 luxuries: for it seems from the records of these ancient people, that 

 lest their Priests should become too luxurious, and think more of 

 pampering their appetites than fulfilling the duties of their calling, 

 they were forbidden the use of onions by law. 



2. A. arena'rium^ Linn. (Fig. 549.) Sand Garlic. Stem round, 

 leafy to the middle ; leaves flat, with cylindrical sheaths, and margins 

 rough ; umbels globose, bearing bulbs ; keel of the external pieces of 

 the perianth rough ; the three internal filaments deeply three-cleft ; 

 bracteas short, obtuse; stamens shorter than the perianth. 



English Botany, t. 1358. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 134. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 159.— Liudley, Synopsis, p. 267. 



Bulb small, ovate, increasing by numerous ofi'sets, of a purplish 

 colour. Leaves alternate, sheathing the stem to about the middle, 

 linear, flat, of a bright green, rough on the margins, and having long 

 sheaths closely embracing the stem. Stem round, smooth, erect, slen- 

 der, from two to three feet high, terminating in a dense globose umbelf 

 bearing bulbs amongst the flowers, and having at the base three or 

 four ovate obtuse bractea, mostly shorter than the umbel. Flowers 

 deep red, bell-shaped, on short round smooth peduncles, the perianth of 

 six elliptic lanceolate pieces, keeled at the back, the three outer ones of 

 the perianth rough. Stamens rather shorter than the perianth, the three 

 outer ones with simple awl-shaped sometimes twisted filaments, the 

 three inner dilated, thin, membranous, deeply three-cleft, the middle 

 segment half as long as the others, and bearing the anther. Anthers 

 dark coloured. Style shorter than the stamens. Capsules rarely per- 

 fected, a circumstance which seems general, in those plants that bear 

 bulbs, by which the plant may be propagated. 



Habitat. — Sandy soil in shady mountainous districts and fields, 

 chiefly in the North of England; in Perthshire and Angus-shire, 

 Scotland; Portmarnock and Feltrum hill, and South Isles Arran, 

 Ireland. 



Perennial; flowering in July. 



Between this species and A. Scorodoprasum^ Linn, there does not 

 appear any good distinctive character. 



b. Filaments simple. 



3. A. Carina'tuniy Linn. (Fig. 550.) Mountain Garlic. Stem 

 round, leafy to the middle ; leaves linear, flat, keeled and slightly 

 channeled above, numerously striated below ; umbels lax, bearing 

 bulbs ; bracteas long, tapering, persistent ; stamens simple, nearly as 

 long as the obtusely acute pieces of the perianth. 



English Botany, t. 1658. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 135. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 159. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 268. 



Bulb roundish. Stem about three feet high, round, smooth, finely 



