Allium.'] LXXXV. LILIACE^E. 465 



Three inner stamens flattened, and B-cleft. Spatha-bracts 

 short. 

 Flowers intermixed with bulbs .... . 6. A. vineale. 



Flowers without bulbs 5. A. sphcerocephalum. 



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

 the Shallot (A. ascalonicum), the Leek (A. Porrum), now believed to be a 

 cultivated variety of A. Ampeloprasum, and a few species occasionally 

 cultivated for ornament. 



1. A. Ampeloprasum, Linn. (fig. 1048). Wild L. — 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, their sheaths enclosing the lower part of the stem. Flowers very 

 numerous, 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 2^ 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 perhaps indigenous on the coast of Galway, in Ireland. Fl. summer. 

 The A. Babmgtonii, Borr, is a variety with sessile bulbs in the umbel in 

 lieu of most of the flowers, a character which it loses by cultivation, 

 and our garden Leek (A. Porrum, Linn.), is a cultivated variety of the 

 same species. 



2. A. Scorodoprasum, Linn. (fig. 1049). Sand L. — This has the 

 flat leaves, short spatha, bell-shaped perianth, and flat, 3 -cleft inner 

 stamens of A. Ampeloprasum ; 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. A. aren- 

 arium, Sm. 



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 pos- 

 sibly prove to be a bulbiferous variety of the Continental A. rotundum. 



3. A. oleraceum, Linn. (fig. 1050). Field L. — Stems 1 to 2 feet 

 high, with a rather small bulb. Leaves narrow-linear, nearly flat, but 

 rather thick, 1 to 1J lines broad, their sheathing bases covering 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. Umbel much looser than in the allied 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. 



In cultivated and waste places, dispersed over all Europe and tem- 

 perate Asia, except the extreme north. In Britain, it occurs on the 

 borders of fields in east Scotland and many counties of England, but 

 not in Ireland. FL summer. In southern Europe it occurs occasionally 

 without bulbs in the umbel. With us the umbel has often bulbs onlv, 



2 G 



