LILY FAMILY 



WILD ONION, ALLIUM 



Allium cirnuum. 

 Allium, the ancient Latin name of the garlic. 



Bulh. — Coated, onion-scented. 



Leaves. — Linear, flattened, sharply keeled. 



Scape. — Angular, nodding at the apex, bearing a loose or drooping, 

 few to many-flowered umbel of pale pink or purple flowers, from a 

 scarious spathe. 



Perianth. — Of six segments, united only at the base. 



Stamens. — Six; filaments slender, exserted. 



Ovary. — Crested; style slender. 



Capsule^ — Crested, three-lobed. 



The Alliums are a genus of strong-scented and pungent herbs; 

 the leaves and stems arise from a coated bulb; and the flowers 



appear in a simple umbel, wrapped 

 in the bud by a scarious spathe. 



Allium cernuum is a native species 

 often found in cultivation, and the 

 flowering umbel at its best is very 

 pretty, but there are so many better 

 plants for the garden that it can 

 never achieve much success. The 

 Allium that is usually forced for the 

 winter trade is Allium neapoliii- 

 num, which produces a large umbel 

 of white flowers. 



The value of the genus is shown 



in the kitchen garden where, in 



some respects, it has no rival. It 



is difficult to imagine how the fine art of cooking would have 



developed without chives, leeks, and onions. 



The Common Onion, Allium chpa, has been in cultivation so 

 long that its native land is unknown, some supposing it to be India, 

 others Egypt; in both it has been cultivated from remote antiquity. 



5° 



Wild Onion. ■ Allium c^nuum 



