Allium 2010

[TheOnionMan]

I have a few more but I have no idea about these!..
 5 and 6 taken in differnt locations.

Regarding your Alliums 3, 4, 5, & 6.  Ibrahim, are all of these found natively in Turkey?  Knowing where they come from would certainly help, including which province in Turkey.

3 -  unopened buds, and reddish bulbs; not enough information to guess at a species.

4 -  photo shows late anthesis swelling seed capsules, and dark purplish/black bulblets.  Could be any number of Allium section Allium species that have dense heads of bloom and dark bulblets, such as scordoroprasum, rotundum, other species.  Need to see floral characteristics to make a judgement.

5 -  Allium rotundum

6 -  difficult to tell, definitely an Allium of Section Allium, need to get an idea of scale of the plant, also the inflorescence is early, so not sure if stamens and style would be more exserted later on, could be A. rotundum ssp. jajlae, rubrovittatum (a very small plant), or others... would need to have more information to make a more certain determination.

[TheOnionMan]

Some more alliums today (hope they are not misnamed)
1. Allium pskemense
2. Allium myranthum
3. Allium senescens
4. Allium paniculatum (in the evening sun, as my camera doesn't seem to like the heat and bright sunshine we have been having for 5 weeks running)

Oleg, all look correct.  May I ask, what is your source on Allium myrianthum, this is a rarely encountered species, and a delightful one based on your photograph, love the reddish-purple pedicels and open clean white flowers. It has a wide distribution in Turkey to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and Libya (Cyrenaica).  How tall does it grow; in the Flora of Turkey it is listed as growing 30-150 cm tall, that's quite a range.  It is said to be related to A. convallarioides, which has fistular leaves; are the leaves fistular, but semicylindrical-canaliculate in cross-section like A. convallarioides is?  Do you know if this species is hardy?

[TheOnionMan]

   I have some more pics taken this week. I think they are,
Allium paniculatum subsp. fuscum
Allium guttatum subsp. guttatum.

Ibrahim, great shots of Allium paniculatum ssp. fuscum, really shows the disposition of the flowers and the turning-stiffly-upright seed capsules.  And it's great to see a closeup shot of Allium guttatum ssp. guttatum, with those green orbicular dots on the tepals, such a trademark identifier.  The bulb view is interesting too, because we see a bulb scale in progress of splitting off, and a small bulge in the stem just above the bulb, which is surely a bulblet.  Excellent instructional photos!  Is this also a Turkish form of the species?

[I.S.]

   Hello Mark, at first thank you very much for your help. Here is my native Allium list. Quite lots! It is still very hard for me (province Istanbul anf Kırklareli NW. corner of TR.)

Allium amethystinum
Allium atropurpureum
Allium atroviolaceum
Allium carinatum subsp. pulchellum
Allium cepa
Allium commutatum
Allium cyrilli
Allium flavum subsp. flavum var. flavum
Allium flavum subsp. flavum var. minus
Allium flavum subsp. tauricum var. tauricum
Allium guttatum subsp. dalmaticum
Allium guttatum subsp. guttatum
Allium guttatum subsp. sardoum
Allium jubatum
Allium myrianthum var. floribus albidis
Allium moschatum
Allium neapolitanum
Allium nigrum
Allium olympicum
Allium pallens subsp. pallens
Allium paniculatum subsp. fuscum
Allium paniculatum subsp. paniculatum
Allium paniculatum subsp. villosulum
Allium peroninianum
Allium porrum
Allium proponticum subsp. proponticum
Allium rhodopeum subsp. turcicum
Allium roseum
Allium rubellum
Allium scorodoprasum subsp. scorodoprasum
Allium scorodoprasum subsp. rotundum
Allium sibthorpianum
Allium sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon
Allium stamineum
Allium triquetrum
Allium vineale
Allium wiedemannianum
 
 My all pictures taken from wild last week. But not with a onionman eye! I did not know to take my scale with me!
 

[TheOnionMan]

Allium listera is one of a small handful of Chinese species with hosta-like leaves, quite remarkably so in this species.  I grow three clones, all collected by Darrell Probst in China, two of which flowered this year side-by-side.  I've grown these a number of years, and it proves to be a most unique, attractive, and hardy Allium for the semi-shady bed.  I upload 10 photos showing the progression from early leaf emergence to flowering.  Normally flowering takes place in latest July to mid August, but this year we are 2-3 weeks earlier than normal.

Early leaf emergence shows off the different clones well, my original plant is the one with ruddy reddish foliage in spring, looking rather odd with fleshy shiny leaves, but robust and more leaves than the second clone... the leaves eventually turning green but larger than the other... the second clone was green and looking altogether normal, smaller and narrower in shape.  The second clone started flowering about 2 weeks earlier than my original more robust form, but there is some cross-over in bloom time.  

This year, it has been so desperately hot and dry, that the leaves started drying off as the flowers appeared, something nor experienced before, normally the leaves are in good green hosta form as the flowers open.  The smaller form did not set any seed, it was near 99 F (37 C) when the flowers were blooming, too soon to tell if the later more robust form will set seed this year.

[olegKon]

Mark, It's a pleasure to have such a profound allium expert like you in the forum. Thanks for the confirmation.
I bought Allium myrianthum from Norman Stevens (Cambridge bulbs) in 2005. It has been growing in the open garden here in Moscow (zone 3) ever since, so it would sure be hardy for you. It is about 50 cm tall. The flowerhead is not that big but the combination of red-purple and white is really stunning. It doesn't flower for me every year (wet summers can be the reason) and has never set seed. Granted this extremely hot summer here with + 30-35 for already a month and no rain, I hope to have seed. Will look at the leaves later if they are still intact.

[Thomas Huber]

Some of the (too) few Alliums in my garden:
Allium christophii
A. carinatum ssp pulchellum
A. stipitatum 'Mount Everest'

[Roma]

I like your pictures of HUGE Alliums against the sky, Thomas 

[Thomas Huber]

Thanks Roma 

[TheOnionMan]

Some of the (too) few Alliums in my garden:
Allium christophii
A. carinatum ssp pulchellum
A. stipitatum 'Mount Everest'

Thomas, nice "artistic" shots of your flowering onions!  I envision your lying on the ground to take those skyward shots, particularly on the lower Allium pulchellum.  I see that you labeled you A. carinatum ssp. pulchellum as forma lintoflorum, as you have so beautifully illustrated before in this thread: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4929.msg133682#msg133682
but seeing that the finely formed inflorescences of your recent photos are devoid of random lint, these surely cannot be Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum forma lintoflorum, but just the straight species, A. carinatum ssp. pulchellum  Well done!

Last year a variegated Allium appeared in my garden; well actually, two variegated Allium seedlings appeared, both were eaten by rabbits (what nonsense that growing alliums will keep vermin like rabbits away).  Only one reappeared this year, and it turned out to be a variegated form of A. carinatum ssp. pulchellum, now in flower with typical purple flowers!  At this point, the leaves are dried (HOT & DRY this year) leaving only the bare stem, and now the flowers, but even the stem is variegated, half white, half green, slowly turning or spiraling slightly as it rises. All attempts to photograph this skinny wisp of a plant have failed to show the variegation properly, maybe when or IF it bulks up, I can get a better pic.

[TheOnionMan]

A couple more views of Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum... one thinks of there being the white and purple forms, but there are many shades of lilac-purple between.  I just love the form of this species, always showy and playful, even in early flower emergence as the silvery veined bud-spathes split with arching pedicels spilling outwards.  To compare, the species (Allium carinatum) was first named for the bulbilliferous phase.  I tolerate this species, it is amusing and mildly ornamental, but when the many inflorescence-borne bulbils get ready to drop (as they are now), I cut and bag the flower/bulb heads... but no fear, invariably I miss some bulbils, and more always come back and spread.  I also show the related A. oleraceum, found throughout most of Europe and even North Africa, my coppery-colored form from Morocco.  Again, the flower heads should be cut off and bagged, to avoid too many unwanted young plants.

[Thomas Huber]

Thanks for your comments, Mark. Will relabel my plant to Allium carinatum ssp pulchellum!
So far I don't see any bulbs on my flowerheads. Do they form after the flowers fade?
Will be happy to get some more bulbs from this wonderful plant.
Good luck with your variegated form!

[TheOnionMan]

So far I don't see any bulbs on my flowerheads. Do they form after the flowers fade?

No, if there were bulbils in the flower head, they'd be there the same time as the flowers and you'd see them.  Also, if there were bulbils in the flower head, it would be A. carinatum.

[Thomas Huber]

OK - but do they form bulbils around the main bulb or do they only increasy by seed?

[TheOnionMan]

OK - but do they form bulbils around the main bulb or do they only increasy by seed?

Thomas, in my experience A. carinatum ssp. pulchellum is not gregarious with bulblet production around the parent bulb, the bulbs tend to slowly divide, but never bulk up into big clumps, not even as fast as Allium flavum can bulk up into a fine clump.  They are primarily increased by seed.