Allium 2012

[Stephenb]

Thanks once again, Mark! I don't mind so much when misidentified things turn out to be species I don't grow before - my search for the real aciphyllum continues...(have received imposters 3 times now!)

[TheOnionMan]

Interesting that cyathophorum can also result in rarities not just the other way round or is cyathophorum (i.e., not farreri) rare in culture?

Indeed it is Stephen, the irony is not lost on me.  In my one-and-only-to-be order to Chen Yi a decade ago, I opted to order the plain species Allium cyathophorum (versus the ubiquitous var. farreri) because the type species is not in cultivation that I know of.  The photos of Allium cyathophorum var. cyathophorum in FOC show a really lovely Allium, the tepals more rounded in the type species. But I'm happy to get Allium henryi out of the deal.
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027468

[mark smyth]

Does anyone want seeds of A. amplectans, sikkimensis and Forescate?

[John85]

Mark,
Can I have some seeds of A.sikkimensis,please.

[mark smyth]

John pm or email me your address

[Palustris]

Very pleased to have flowered this. Bought the original plant from Mike Smith before he retired and lost it. But before I could throw away the 'empty' pot a couple of seedlings appeared. Taken a while but here they are in flower. Allium wallichii (or at least it is until someone says different)
 

[mark smyth]

I saw this Allium today. It looks like A. paniculatum but mine doesnt produce bulbils

[TheOnionMan]

Mark, it could be Allium carinatum (produces bulbils, but typically with rosy-purple flowers the same color as A. carinatum ssp. pulchellum), or more likely, a form of A. oleraceum, closely allied and similar to Allium paniculatum, but with bulbils and rather variable in flower color, from light pink, to deeper pinks, to tawny brownish coppery forms (I grow such a form from Richard Dadd, I believe collected in Morocco).  So, I would say what you're seeing is Allium oleraceum.

And then again, it is not rare for so-called non-bulbilliferous allium species to sport an ocassional bulbilliferous form; I've witnessed bulbillifery in many species that are not supposed to have bulbils, including A. cernuum, senescens, nutans, flavum, stellatum, hollandicum, and many others.

[mark smyth]

in a whispering voice - I aquired some bulbils 

Thanks Mark

[Maggi Young]

.....
And then again, it is not rare for so-called non-bulbilliferous allium species to sport an ocassional bulbilliferous form; I've witnessed bulbillifery in many species that are not supposed to have bulbils, including A. cernuum, senescens, nutans, flavum, stellatum, hollandicum, and many others.

Would weather conditions have anything to do with that sort of random bulbil production, McMark?

[TheOnionMan]

Would weather conditions have anything to do with that sort of random bulbil production, McMark?

I believe "bulbillifery" is genetic; almost all Allium species have the propensity to produce bulbils, even if rarely so.  In my non-scientific trials, I would grow on bulbils from species not normally associated with having bulbils (such as from A. cernuum, senescens, and angulosum), and plants grown from such bulbils produce a much higher percentage of bulbilliferous progeny.  Thus a case for never propagating from bulbils, opting for seed propagation instead.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks McMark.             Isn't 'bulbillifery' just a fun word?

[TheOnionMan]

Thanks McMark.             Isn't 'bulbillifery' just a fun word?

Indeed it is

http://books.google.com/books?id=wbeW6_yVJbgC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=bulbillifery&source=bl&ots=NXhChlBOWo&sig=1ugtq4VVwu4l1EJvfkNNv-EzuVY&sa=X&ei=XjMyUNy_JMGA6QHRsIGIAQ&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bulbillifery&f=false

[Janis Ruksans]

From summer pictures still left unshown this beautifull Allium christophii from Iran
But few days ago I pictures one of latest americans Allium sanbornii subsp. sanbornii - grown from Ron Ratko seeds (05-54, Northern Sierra Nevada, CA, ~1300m - By Ron: This is the last allium to flower in the foothills of the Northern Sierra Nevada).
Janis

[PeterT]

A visiting forumist from Romania  has been taking pictures in my garden while I was potting.
Razvans eye and camera lit on a few Alliums in the rockery.
The A virgunculae is from the Wallaces and is a little taller than another pot which I have of it.
The A beesianum came from them too, I think that it may have an Archibald history but am not sure.
The A saxatile came from Leonid Bondarenko