Seed Production of Allium Vinbale 



213 



DOES ALLIUM VINEALE L. PRODUCE SEEDS IN 

 INDIANA/ 



Albert A. Hansen, Purdue University. 



Whether or not wild garlic, Allium, vineale L., produces seeds under 

 Indiana conditions is a mooted question the answer to which is of eco- 

 nomic importance inasmuch as wild garlic is the most damaging of 

 weeds in southern Indiana and data regarding methods of propagation 

 are of the utmost importance. The damage attributable to wild garlic 

 may be measured by the fact that a survey conducted in Vanderburgh, 

 Perry, Warrick, Dubois, Spencer, Gibson, Pike and Posey counties during 

 1922 by the Purdue University Agiicultural Extension Department, re- 



Fig. 1. Heads of Allium vineale showing flowers arising from between the aerial 

 bulblets. It was from these flowers that seeds were secured. 



vealed that during 1921 a total of 1,132,166 bushels of garlicky wheat 

 and 40,130 gallons of garlicky cream were marketed from the area 

 covered by these eight counties in which a total of 463,594 acres of 

 cultivated land is infested with this serious weed. 



The ordinary method by which wild garlic reproduces is by means 

 of aerial and subterranean bulblets. In common with many species that 

 possess vigorous m.eans of vegetative reproduction, seeds are rarely 

 formed, although no record can be found containing definite data on the 

 subject. Perhaps the most exhaustive treatise on the biology of Allium 

 vineale in Indiana is the work of Pipal who states- "propagation of wild 

 garlic by seed takes place mostly in the southern limits of its range. 



1 Contribution from the Botany Department (Extension Division), Purdue University 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. 



- Pipal, F. 3. "Wild Garlic and Its Eradication." Bui. 176, Purdue University 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, 1914, p. 11. 



"Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci.. vol. 33, 1923 (1924;." 



