Himalaya Onion

Roots elongate, thick. Bulb solitary or clustered, cylindric; tunic yellowish brown, laciniate or fibrous to subreticulate. Leaves linear to oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, shorter than to subequaling scape, (2--)5--20 mm wide, midvein distinct, base narrowed into a petiole or not. Scape lateral, (10--)20--50(--110) cm, 3-angled, sometimes narrowly 3-winged, covered with leaf sheaths only at base or for ca. 1/2 its length. Spathe 1- or 2-valved, deciduous. Umbel hemispheric, laxly or densely flowered. Pedicels subequal, 2--4 × as long as perianth, ebracteolate. Perianth stellately spreading, recurved after anthesis, pale red, red, or purple to blackish purple, rarely white; segments oblong-elliptic to narrowly so, 5--9 × 1.5--2 mm, apex retuse or obtuse. Filaments subulate, shorter than to subequaling perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments. Ovary obovoid-globose, smooth; ovules 2 per locule. Style longer than ovary. Fl. and fr. Jul--Oct.

Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), S.E. Tibet, W. China.

Guangxi, Guizhou, S Hunan, SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].

2400-4650 m

Forest margins, scrub, meadows, stream banks; 2300--4800 m.

Flowering and fruiting from July to October.

Allium wallichii var. wallichii is close relative of Allium wallichii var. platyphyllum, but differs from the latter in its leaves linear to broadly so (vs. oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate), base not narrowed into a petiole (vs. narrowed into a petiole), scape covered with leaf sheaths only at base (vs. leaf sheaths for ca. 1/2 its length).

Allium wallichii is occurring in Guangxi, Guizhou, S Hunan, SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan of China, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim.

Phylogeny of Allium subgenus Amerallium was inferred from the combined ITS and ETS dataset (Nguyen et al., 2008). Results shown all Allium species with chromosome base numbers of n = 7 into subgenus Amerallium, which contains both Old World and North American species. The North American taxa were monophyletic and sister to the Old World taxa. In the Old World Amerallium clade, the monophyletic section Bromatorrhiza Ekberg (= A. wallichii and A. hookeri) was sister to a clade containing all other sections: Narkissoprason Kam. (= A. insubricum), Briseis (Salisb.) Stearn (= A. paradoxum and A. triquetrum), Arctoprasum Kirschl. (= A. ursinum), Molium (= A. moly, A. subhirsutum, A. zebdanense, A. roseum, and A. chamaemoly).

Roots elongate, thick. Bulb solitary or clustered, cylindric; tunic yellowish brown, laciniate or fibrous to subreticulate. Leaves linear to broadly so, shorter than to subequaling scape, 5-20 mm wide, midvein distinct, base not narrowed into a petiole. Scape lateral, 20-50 cm, 3-angled, sometimes narrowly 3-winged, covered with leaf sheaths only at base. Spathe 1- or 2-valved, deciduous. Umbel hemispheric, laxly or densely flowered. Pedicels subequal, 2-4 times as long as perianth, ebracteolate. Perianth stellately spreading, recurved after anthesis, pale red, red, or purple to blackish purple, rarely white; segments oblong-elliptic to narrowly so, 5-9 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, apex retuse or obtuse. Filaments subulate, shorter than to subequaling perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments. Ovary obovoid-globose, smooth; ovules 2 per locule. Style longer than ovary.

The chromosomal number of Allium wallichii is 2n = 14, 28 (Huang et al., 1995; Ohri et al., 1998).

Growing in forest margins, scrub, moist meadows, stream banks; 2300-4800 m.

Allium wallichii is a plant species native to India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Myanmar, and parts of China (Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan, Tibet, Xizang, Yunnan). It grows at elevations of 2300–4800 m.

Allium wallichii has elongate roots and clusters of narrow bulbs. Scapes are up to 110 cm tall, triangular in cross-section. Leaves are flat, up to 20 mm across, usually shorter than the scape. Flowers are white, pink, red, dark purple (sometimes almost black).