Allium ampeloprasum

wild leek or elephant garlic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Allioideae
Genus: Allium
Species: A. ampeloprasum
Binomial name
Allium ampeloprasum
L.
Synonyms[1]

Allium ampeloprasum is a member of the onion genus Allium. The wild plant is commonly known as wild leek or broadleaf wild leek. Its native range is southern Europe to western Asia, but it is cultivated in many other places and has become naturalized in many countries.

Allium ampeloprasum is regarded as native to all the countries bordering on the Black, Adriatic, and Mediterranean Seas from Portugal to Egypt to Romania. In Russia and Ukraine, it is considered invasive except in Crimea, where it is native. It is also native to Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq. It is considered naturalized in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic States, Belarus, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, China, Australia (all states except Queensland and Tasmania), Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the United States (southeastern region plus California, New York State, Ohio and Illinois), Galápagos, and Argentina.[2][3][4][5][6]

The species may have been introduced to Britain by prehistoric people, where its habitat consists of rocky places near the coast in south-west England and Wales.[7][8]

Allium ampeloprasum has been differentiated into three cultivated vegetables, namely leek, elephant garlic and kurrat. In tidewater Virginia, the plant is commonly known as the "Yorktown Onion."[9]

Wild populations produce bulbs up to 3 cm across. Scapes are round in cross-section, each up to 180 cm tall, bearing an umbel of as many as 500 flowers. Flowers are urn-shaped, up to 6 mm across; tepals white, pink or red; anthers yellow or purple; pollen yellow.[3][10]

Vernacular names

Allium ampeloprasum comprises several vegetables, of which the most important ones are known as

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Plant List
  2. ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Allium ampeloprasum
  3. 1 2 Flora of North America v 26 p 238, Allium ampeloprasum'
  4. ↑ BONAP (Biota of North America Program) floristic synthesis, Allium ampeloprasum'
  5. ↑ Flora of China v 24 p 200, Allium porrum
  6. ↑ Altervista, Schede di Botanica
  7. 1 2 Plants for a Future: Allium ampeloprasum
  8. ↑ CHRISTOPHER D. PRESTON, DAVID A. PEARMAN, ALLAN R. HALL (2004) Archaeophytes in Britain Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (3), 257–294 doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00284.x, p. 264
  9. ↑ YorkCounty.gov - Yorktown Onion
  10. ↑ Gleason, H. A. & A.J. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (ed. 2) i–910. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx.
  11. ↑ Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (2004) Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA Foundation, Wageningen; Backhuys, Leiden; CTA, Wageningen.

External links

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