Allium is a monocot
genusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of
flowering plantThe flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s,
informallyA common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
referred to as the
onionThe onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
genus. The generic name
Allium is the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word for
garlicAllium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
.
The genus contains hundreds of distinct species; many have been harvested throughout human history, but only about a dozen are still economically important today as crops or garden
vegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s. These include
onionThe onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s (
A. cepa), shallots (
A. cepa var.
aggregatum), French shallot (
A. oschaninii), leeks (
A. ampeloprasum), scallions (various
Allium species), and
herbExcept in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s such as
garlicAllium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
(
A. sativum) and
chivesChives are the smallest species of the edible onions. A perennial plant, they are native to Europe, Asia and North America.. Allium schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old World....
(
A. schoenoprasum). Others are
cultivatedHorticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
as
ornamentalsOrnamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
.
Allium is
taxonomicallyPlant taxonomy is the science that finds, describes, classifies, identifies, and names plants. It thus is one of the main branches of taxonomy.Plant taxonomy is closely allied to plant systematics, and there is no sharp boundary between the two...
difficult and
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
boundaries are unclear. Most authorities accept about 750 species. Estimates of the number of species have been as low as 260, and as high as 860. The
type speciesIn biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
for the genus is
Allium sativum.
Allium species occur in temperate climates of the
northern hemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, except for a few species occurring in Chile (such as
A. juncifolium), Brazil (
A. sellovianum) or tropical Africa (
A. spathaceum). They can vary in height between 5 cm and 150 cm. The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s form an
umbelAn umbel is an inflorescence which consists of a number of short flower stalks which are equal in length and spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs....
at the top of a leafless stalk. The
bulbA bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...
s vary in size between species, from very small (around 2–3 mm in diameter) to rather large (8–10 cm). Some species (such as Welsh onion,
A. fistulosum) develop thickened leaf-bases rather than forming bulbs as such.
Allium is a genus of
perennialA perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
bulbous plants that produce chemical compounds (mostly
cysteineCysteine is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula HO2CCHCH2SH. It is a non-essential amino acid, which means that it is biosynthesized in humans. Its codons are UGU and UGC. The side chain on cysteine is thiol, which is polar and thus cysteine is usually classified as a hydrophilic amino acid...
sulfoxide) that give them a characteristic onion or garlic taste and odor. Many are used as food plants, though not all members of the genus are equally flavorful. In most cases, both bulb and leaves are edible. Their taste may be strong or weaker, depending on the species.
In the
APG III classification systemThe APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy...
,
Allium is placed in the
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
AmaryllidaceaeAmaryllidoideae is the subfamily of flowering plants that takes its name from the genus Amaryllis. It is part of the family Amaryllidaceae, in order Asparagales...
, subfamily Allioideae (formerly the family Alliaceae). In some of the older
classification systemsBiological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...
,
Allium was placed in
LiliaceaeThe Liliaceae, or the lily family, is a family of monocotyledons in the order Liliales. Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins but with several having net venation , and flower arranged in threes. Several have bulbs, while others have rhizomes...
. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that this
circumscriptionIn taxonomy, circumscription is the definition of the limits of a taxonomic group of organisms. One goal of taxonomy is to achieve a stable circumscription for every taxonomic group. Achieving stability can be simple or difficult....
of Liliaceae is not monophyletic.
Allium is one of about 57 genera of flowering plants that have more than 500 species. It is by far the largest genus in the Amaryllidaceae, and also in the Alliaceae in
classificationBiological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....
systems in which that family is recognized as separate.
Description
Allium species are herbaceous perennials with flowers produced on
scapeIn botany, scapes are leafless flowering stems that rise from the ground. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....
s. They grow from solitary or clustered tunicate bulbs and many have an onion odor and taste. Plants are perennialized by bulbs that reform annually from the base of the old bulb, or are produced on the ends of
rhizomeIn botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
s or, in a few species, at the ends of
stolonIn biology, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external skeletons.-In botany:...
s. A small number of species have
tuberTubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...
ous roots. The bulbs have outer coats that are commonly brown or grey, with a smooth texture, and are fibrous, or with cellular reticulation. The inner coats of the bulbs are membranous.
Many alliums have basal leaves that commonly wither away from the tips downward before or while the plant flower, but some species have persistent foliage. Plants produce from one to twelve leaves, most species having linear, channeled or flat leaf blades. The leaf blades are straight or variously coiled, but some species have broad leaves, including
A. victorialis and
A. tricoccum. The leaves are
sessile, and very rarely narrowed into a
petiole.
The
terete or flattened flowering scapes are normally persistent. The inflorescences are
umbelAn umbel is an inflorescence which consists of a number of short flower stalks which are equal in length and spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs....
s, in which the outside flowers bloom first and flowering progresses to the inside. Some species produce bulbils within the umbels, and in some species the bulbils replace some or all the flowers. The umbels are subtended by noticeable spathe bracts, which are commonly fused and normally have around 3 veins.
The flowers are erect or in some species pendent, having six petal-like
tepalTepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is more often applied specifically when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated, which is called perigone...
s produced in two whorls. The flowers have one
styleGynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...
and six epipetalous
stamenThe stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s; the anthers and
pollenPollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
can vary in color depending on the species. The
ovariesIn the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals...
are superior, and three-lobed with three
loculeA locule is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism ....
s.
The fruits are capsules that open longitudinally along the capsule wall between the partitions of the locule. The seeds are black, and have a rounded shape.
Some bulbous alliums increase by forming little bulbs or "offsets" around the old one, as well as by
seedA seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
. Several species can form many bulbils in the flowerhead; in the so-called "
tree onionTree onions, Allium ×proliferum, are similar to common onions, but with a cluster of bulblets where a normal onion would have flowers. Genomic evidence has conclusively shown that they are a hybrid of the common onion and the Welsh onion . However, some sources may still treat the tree onion as A....
" or Egyptian onion (
A. ×
proliferum) the bulbils are few, but large enough to be
pickledPickling, also known as brining or corning is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar . The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste...
.
Taxonomy
The
taxonomyPlant taxonomy is the science that finds, describes, classifies, identifies, and names plants. It thus is one of the main branches of taxonomy.Plant taxonomy is closely allied to plant systematics, and there is no sharp boundary between the two...
of
Allium is poorly understood, with incorrect descriptions being widespread.
Allium spicatum has been treated by many authors as
Milula spicata, the only species in the monospecific genus
Milula. In 2000, it was shown to be
embeddedA group of taxa is said to be paraphyletic if the group consists of all the descendants of a hypothetical closest common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups of descendants...
in
Allium.
In 2006, a phylogeny of
Allium was published based on the
nuclearIn cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...
ribosomalA ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....
geneA gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
ITSITS refers to a piece of non-functional RNA situated between structural ribosomal RNAs on a common precursor transcript. Read from 5' to 3', this polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript contains the 5' external transcribed sequence , 18S rRNA, ITS1, 5.8S rRNA, ITS2, 28S rRNA and finally the 3'ETS...
. The authors of this study divided
Allium into 15 subgenera and 72
sectionsIn botany, a section is a taxonomic rank below the genus, but above the species. The subgenus, if present, is higher than the section, and the rank of series, if present, is below the section. Sections are typically used to help organise very large genera, which may have hundreds of species...
. They defined the subgenus
Rhizirideum in a much narrower sense than in previous classifications.
Subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the 2006 classification is a considerable improvement over previous classifications, but some of its subgenera and sections are probably not monophyletic. One of these studies focused on the subgenus
Amerallium which is strongly
supportedIn statistics, resampling is any of a variety of methods for doing one of the following:# Estimating the precision of sample statistics by using subsets of available data or drawing randomly with replacement from a set of data points # Exchanging labels on data points when performing significance...
as monophyletic. Another study focused on
Allium ampeloprasumAllium ampeloprasum is a member of the onion genus Allium. The wild plant is commonly known as Wild Leek - not to be confused with the N. American Allium tricoccum of the same name. Its native range is S. Europe to W...
and its relatives within the section
Allium of subgenus
Allium.
SamplingIn general, a sample is a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount of that thing. The things could be countable objects such as individual items available as units for sale, or a material not countable as individual items. Samples of countable...
in this study was not sufficient to test the monophyly of section
Allium.
Habitat
The majority of
Allium species are native to the Northern hemisphere, mainly in Asia. A few species are native to Africa and Central and South America. Species grow in various conditions from dry, well-drained mineral-based soils to moist, organic soils; most grow in sunny locations but a number also grow in forests, or even in swamps / water.
Cultivation
Some
Allium species, including
A. cristophii and
A. giganteum, are used as
borderA herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. The term herbaceous border is mostly in use in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth...
plants for their ornamental flowers, and their "architectural" qualities. Several hybrids have been bred, or selected, with rich purple flowers.
A. hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' is one of the most popular and has been given an
Award of Garden MeritThe Award of Garden Merit, or AGM, is an award made to garden plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society after a period of assessment by the appropriate committees of the Society...
(H4). These ornamental onions come in a wide variety of sizes and colours, ranging from white (
Allium 'Mont Blanc'), blue (
A. caeruleum), to yellow (
A. flavum) and purple (
A. giganteum). By contrast, other species (such as invasive
A. triquetrum and
A. ursinum) can become troublesome garden
weedA weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
s.
Various
Allium species are used as food plants by the
larvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of some
LepidopteraLepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
including
Cabbage MothNote: the Small White species of butterfly is commonly called a "cabbage moth" in North America.The Cabbage Moth is a common European moth of the family Noctuidae....
,
common swiftThe Common Swift is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It was previously placed in the genus Hepialus. It is a common, often abundant European species....
moth (recorded on garlic),
Garden DartThe Garden Dart is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.This is a rather drab species, forewings ranging from pale to dark brown with indistinct markings. The hindwings are white with a grey fringe. The wingspan is 32-40 mm...
moth,
Large Yellow UnderwingThe Large Yellow Underwing is a moth, the type species for the family Noctuidae. It is an abundant species throughout Europe, one of the most common and most familiar moths of the region. In some years the species is highly migratory with large numbers appearing suddenly in marginal parts of the...
moth,
NutmegThe nutmeg , also known as the clover cutworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found throughout Europe although in the north of its range it is a summer migrant, not being able to survive the cold winters.This is a small to medium species with cryptically coloured forewings, varying from...
moth,
Setaceous Hebrew CharacterThe Setaceous Hebrew Character is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone. It is a common species throughout Europe. It is also found in North America, from coast to coast across Canada and the northern United States to western Alaska. It occurs in the Rocky Mountains...
moth,
Turnip MothThe Turnip Moth is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is a common European species, but it is also found in Asia and Africa, very likely having been spread by the international trade in nursery stock...
and
Schinia roseaSchinia, commonly called Flower Moths, is a large genus of moths belonging to the family Noctuidae. The genus has a Holarctic distribution with the vast majority of species being found in North America, many with a very restricted range and larval food plant.-Species Information and Food Plants:...
, a moth that feeds exclusively on
Allium species.
DogThe domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s and
catThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s are very susceptible to poisoning after the consumption of certain species.
Species
See
List of Allium species for a full list. Some important species include:
- Allium acuminatum
Allium acuminatum, also known as the tapertip onion or Hooker's onion, a species in the genus Allium and is native to the Western United States and Canada. Its bulbs are small and spherical and smell like onions.Turner, Nancy J...
— tapertip onion, Hooker's onion
- Allium allegheniense — Appalachian onion
- Allium ampeloprasum
Allium ampeloprasum is a member of the onion genus Allium. The wild plant is commonly known as Wild Leek - not to be confused with the N. American Allium tricoccum of the same name. Its native range is S. Europe to W...
— (Broadleaf) wild leek
- A. ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum — elephant garlic
Elephant garlic is a plant belonging to the onion genus. It is not a true garlic, but actually a variant of the species to which the garden leek belongs. It has a tall, solid, flowering stalk and broad, flat leaves much like those of the leek, but forms a bulb consisting of very large, garlic-like...
- A. ampeloprasum var. kurrat — kurrat
Kurrat, or Egyptian leek , is grown in the Middle East for its leaves. It is closely related to elephant garlic and leeks and is generally regarded as being in the same species, though it is also commonly listed as Allium kurrat....
- A. ampeloprasum var. porrum — leek
- Allium anceps — twinleaf onion
- Allium angulosum — mouse garlic
- Allium aflatunense
Allium aflatunense , native to Central Asia, is commonly grown as a garden plant.-Description:Allium aflatunense is a 36" tall bulbous perennial plant with basal, straplike leaves, and hollow, slightly ribbed scapes . The flower heads are dense, globular umbels, about 4" across, made up of numerous...
— flowering onion
- Allium atrorubens
Allium atrorubens is a species of wild onion known by the common name darkred onion, or dark red onion.This plant is native to the southwestern United States where it grows in the sandy soils of the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin and higher elevation deserts. It grows from a reddish-brown bulb one...
— dark red onion
- Allium caeruleum
Allium caeruleum is an ornamental plant native to Asia. This plant is cited in the Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe puis L'illustration horticole by Charles Antoine Lemaire.-External links:*...
— blue globe onion
- Allium campanulatum
Allium campanulatum is a species of wild onion known by the common name dusky onion or Sierra onion.This is a flowering plant native to the western United States from Washington to California as well as Nevada. The dusky onion grows from a gray-brown bulb one to two centimeters wide which may...
— dusky onion
- Allium canadense
Wild onion , also known as Canada onion, wild garlic, meadow garlic, and Canadian garlic, is a perennial plant native to North America. It has an edible bulb covered with a dense skin of brown fibers and tastes like an onion. The plant also has strong, onion-like odor...
— Canadian garlic
- Allium cepa — garden onion. bulb onion, common onion
- Allium cernuum
Allium cernuum, known as nodding onion and lady's leek, is a perennial plant in the genus Allium.It has an unsheathed slender conic bulb which gradually tapers directly into several keeled grass-like leaves . Each mature bulb bears a single flowering stem, which terminates in a downward nodding...
— nodding onion
- Allium chinense
Allium chinense is an edible species of wild onion in the Amaryllis family...
— Chinese onion, Chinese scallion, Japanese scallion, Oriental onion
- Allium fistulosum
Allium fistulosum L. is a perennial onion. Other names that may be applied to this plant include green onion, spring onion, escallion, and salad onion...
— Welsh onion
- Allium giganteum
Allium giganteum, also known as Giant Onion, is a perennial plant. This plant is an edible bulb, and it is used as a medicinal and ornamental plant. A common cultivar is 'Globemaster'.-References:* *...
— giant onion
- Allium hollandicum — flowering onion
- Allium neapolitanum
Allium neapolitanum is a perennial bulbous plant of the genus Allium, the onion family. It is native to southern Europe, north Africa, and the Middle East...
— white garlic
- Allium nevii — Nevius' garlic
- Allium nigrum
Allium nigrum is an ornamental plant in the Alliaceae family.-External links:* photo*...
— black garlic
- Allium oleraceum — field garlic
- Allium oschaninii
The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...
— shallot
- Allium paradoxum — few-flowered garlic
- Allium ramosum — fragrant garlic
- Allium sativum — cultivated garlic
- Allium schoenoprasum — chives
- Allium scorodoprasum
The Sand leek , also known as Rocambole, is a perennial wild onion.It should not be confused with Rocambole garlic, which is A. sativum var. ophioscorodon.According to garlic grower Ron Engeland, A...
— sand leek
- Allium sieberianum — Schult.f.
- Allium textile
Allium textile is a common species of wild onion found in the central states of North America....
— prairie onion
- Allium tricoccum — wild leek, ramp
- Allium triquetrum
Allium triquetrum is a Mediterranean plant, but can also be found along the coasts of Oregon and California. Many parts of the plant are edible and taste somewhat like garlic or onion...
— three-cornered leek, triquetous garlic
- Allium tuncelianum
Allium tuncelianum is a species of wild onion which is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey. It has a garlic odor and taste and is used locally like garlic. Its common names include Tunceli garlic and Ovacik garlic...
— Tunceli garlic, Ovacik garlic
- Allium tuberosum
Garlic chives, Allium tuberosum, is a vegetable related to onion. The plant has a distinctive growth habit with strap-shaped leaves unlike either onion or garlic, and straight thin white-flowering stalks that are much taller than the leaves. The flavor is more like garlic than chives. It grows in...
— Chinese chives
- Allium ursinum — buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear's garlic
- Allium vineale
Allium vineale is a perennial bulbflower in the genus Allium, native to Europe, north Africa and western Asia. The species was introduced in Australia and North America, where it has become an invasive species....
— crow garlic, wild onion
Sources
- Pacific Bulb Society: Rhizomatous Alliums
- J. G. Dubouzet, K. Shinoda and N. Murata. Phylogeny of Allium L. subgenus Rhizirideum (G. Don ex Koch) Wendelbo according to dot blot hybridization with randomly amplified DNA probes TAG Theoretical and Applied 'Genetics. Volume 95, Number 8, December, 1997
- Haim D. Rabinowitch, Lesley Currah. Allium crop science: recent advances. CABI Publishing Series, 2002. ISBN 9780851995106
- N. Friesen, R. Fritsch and K. Bachmann. Hybrid origin of some ornamentals of Allium subgenus Melanocrommyum verified with GISH and RAPD. TAG Theoretical and Applied Genetics. Volume 95, Number 8, December, 1997
- A. Samoylov, N. Friesen, S. Pollner, P. Hanelt. Use of chloroplast DNA polymorphisms for the phylogenetic study of Allium subgenus Amerallium and subgenus Bromatorrhiza (Alliaceae) II. Feddes Repertorium Volume 110 Issue 1–2, Pages 103–109, 1999
External links
(enter "
Allium" in search box).