XILIACE.E. 531 



Leaves cylindrical or nearly so, very narrow. Umbels globular. 

 Stamens all similar and enlire. 

 Flowers on long pedicels, usually intermixed with bulbs. 



Spatha-bracts with long green points 3. Field A. 



Flowers in compact heads, without bulbs. Spatha-bracts 



short 4. Chive A. 



Three inner stamens flattened, and S-cleft. Spatha-bracts short. 



Flowers intermixed with bulbs 6. Crow A. 



Flowers without bulbs 5. Round-headed A, 



The genus comprises also the Garlich {A. sativum), the Onion (A. Cepa), 

 the Shallot {A. ascalonicum), the Leek {A. Porrum, now beheved to be a 

 cultivated variety of the lar^e A.), and a few species occasionally cultivated 

 for ornament. 



1. Ijar§;e Allium. Allium Ampeloprasum, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1657.) 



Stems 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves rather broadly linear, flat, but usually 

 folded lengthwise and keeled underneath, from a few inches to above a foot 

 long, tlieir sheaths enclosing the lower part of the stem. Flowers very nu- 

 merous, of a pale purple, on long pedicels, forming large globular heads, with 

 a spatha of 1 or 2 bracts, often tapering into a green point, but shorter than 

 the flowers. Perianth bell-shaped, 2 to 2i lines long. Stamens protruding 

 from the perianth, the 3 inner ones with flattened, 3-cleft filaments. 



In cultivated and waste places, in southern Europe and western Asia. 

 In Britain, indicated as an introduced plant in two or three spots in western 

 England, and said to be more abundant in the Channel Islands, and in an 

 island in Galway Bay, Ireland, but even there probably not indigenous. 

 Fl. summer. The A. Bahingtonii, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2906, is a variety 

 with sessile bulbs in the umbel in lieu of most of the flowers, and our gar- 

 den Leeh (A. Porrum.) is now believed to be a cultivated variety of the same 

 species. 



2. Sand Allium. Allium Scorodoprasum, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2905.) 



This has the flat leaves, short spatha, bell-shaped perianth, and flat, 3-cleft 

 inner stamens of the large A. ; but the umbel is usually smaller, seldom (if 

 ever in this country) without bulbs, and the stamens are not longer than 

 the perianth. It is also usually not so stout a plant, the bulb smaller, with 

 the young offsets on slender stalks, and the umbel is occasionally reduced to 

 a head of bulbs without any flowers. 



In sandy pastures, and waste places, and occasionally in woods, scattered 

 over northern and central Europe, but not an Arctic plant, and not common 

 in the south. In Britain, chiefly in northern England, southern Scotland, 

 and some parts of Ireland. Fl. summer. It may possibly prove to be a 

 bulbiferous variety of the Continental A. rotundum. 



3. Field Allium. Allium oleraceum, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 488, and A. carinatum, t. 1658.) 

 Stems 1 to 2 feet high, with a rather small bulb. Leaves narrow-linear, 

 nearly flat, but rather thick, 1 to Ij- hues broad, their sheathing bases cover- 

 ing the stem a considerable way up. Spatha of 2 broad bracts, with long, 

 green, linear points, one of which at least is much longer than the flowers. 

 IJmbel much looser than in the aUied species; the flowers pale brown, on 

 pedicels from \ to above 1 inch long, always (in Britain) intermixed with 

 bulbs. Filaments all simple, rather shorter than the perianth. 



