SPERMATOPHYTA LILIACEAE 383 



4. Allium (Tourn.) L. Onion, Garlic and Leek 



Perennial bulbous plants, bulb solitary or clustered, leaves generally linear, 

 a few lanceolate or oblong; stem simple or erect; flowers in umbels subtended 

 by bracts ; perianth white, purple or pink, the parts distinct or united at the base 

 often becoming dry; the 6 filaments awl shaped, ovary 3-celled or incompletely 

 so; capsule with 1-2 black seeds in each cell. About 275 species of wide dis- 

 tribution; contains a number of important economic plants, among them garlic 

 (A. sativum), garden leek (A. Porrum), chives (A. Schoenoprasum), shallot 

 (A. ascalonicum), onion (A. Cepa), and the golden garlic (A. Moly), cultivated 

 for ornamental purposes. 



Allium vineale, L. Field Garlic 



A slender scape, naked from an ovoid membranaceous bulb ; 1-3 feet high ; 

 terete and hollow leaves, channeled above, frequently densely bulbiferous ; 

 flowers greenish or purple. 



Distribution. Common in meadows and wheat fields of Virginia, and east- 

 ern states from Connecticut to Virginia and Missouri. Naturalized from Europe. 



Allium tricoccum Ait. Wild Leek 



Scape naked, 4-12 inches high from an ovoid bulb ; leaves fibrous articulated ; 

 leaves oblong, lanceolate or elliptical, few, appearing long before the flowers 

 in spring; flowers in umbels numerous, greenish white, one ovule in each cav- 

 ity; capsules strongly 3-lobed; seeds black and smooth. 



Distribution. Common in the woods from western New England to Min- 

 nesota and Eastern and northern Iowa, especially in the low damp grounds. 



Allium canadense L. Wild Garlic 



Scape 1-2 feet high, coming from an ovoid bulb, the outer coats fibrous 

 reticulated ; leaves narrow linear ; flowers in an umbel frequently with small 

 bulbs ; flowers pink or white. 



Distribution. Common in meadows or low grounds in New England to 

 Minnesota and Iowa, south to the Gulf. 



Injurious Properties. In parts of the country where these onions grow 

 there is frequent complaint of milk taking the flavor of onions where cattle 

 feed upon them. Chesnut and Wilcox do not mention any species of the genus 

 Allium, except some of the species found in Montana, which may impart to milk 

 a disagreeable flavor. Friedberger and Frohner state that onions produce 

 slavering. 



Prof. A. Liautard * has prepared an abstract of a report by Dr. W. W. Gold- 

 smith in the Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics upon onion 

 poisoning in cattle. Briefly it is as follows : 



Loads of onions partly started to shoot and partly decayed, were unloaded in a 

 meadow where nine head of cattle were grazing. After a week the cattle seemed sick 



* Amer. Vet. Review. 36:63 



