NAT. ORDER. 
LiliacecB. 
ALLIUM DESCENDENS. PURPLE-HEADED GARLIC. 
Class VI. Hexandria. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Corolla, six-parted, spreading. Spathe, many flow- 
ered, Uinhells, heaped. Capsule, superior. 
Spe. Char. Umhells, rounded. Stamens, lanceolate, larger than 
the corolla. 
Baron Haller, in his most admirable Monographia on the plants 
of this genus, published in his Opuscula Botanica, describes and 
figures this species, as a hardy perennial, a native of Switzerland, 
and cultivated, according to Mr. Alton, previous to the year 1766, 
for medicinal purposes. 
The root is long, fleshy, hard, and sends ofl^ near the base, small 
succulent fibres ; the stem is simple, and usually rises about three 
feet in height ; the leaves are long, pointed, serrated, and placed 
alternately upon the stem ; the Jlowers, as in many other species, 
grow in a capitulum, or little head, not an umbell, strictly speaking ; 
but as Linnseus describes it, "this head is at first covered with a 
whitish membrane, wearing some resemblance to a night cap ; on 
the falling off of which, the whole of the capitulum is perceived 
to be of a green color." Soon after, the crown becomes of a fine 
reddish purple,, this color extends itself gradually downwards, 
after which, we see the upper half of the head purple, the lower 
half green. In this state, it has a most beautiful and pleasing ap- 
pearance; the purple still extending downwards, and its whole head 
finally becomes uniformly so. At this time, the flowers begin to 
^n, and emit an odor which is very agreeable and pleasant. On 
Vol. ii.— 59 
