Family |
Amaryllidaceae
Allium nigrum
L.
Allium nigrum L.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. XCI nº 2; 1966)
Life-form & habit : Stout mountain leek; solitary, erect scape 30 – 100 cm tall, clearly overtopping the foliage.
Bulb : Usually single, ovoid to sub-globose, ≈ 4 × 4 cm, clothed in grey-brown membranous tunics.
Stem (scape) : Cylindrical, 5 – 10 mm thick at the base, leafy only in its lowest part.
Leaves : 3 – 5 very broadly linear-lanceolate blades, 1 – 6 cm wide, flat or slightly undulate; the uppermost leaf may end in a small bulb-like swelling.
Spathe : Membranous, splitting into 2 – 4 short lobes that remain shorter than the umbel.
Inflorescence : Dense, convex to hemispherical umbel up to ≈ 7 cm across, holding many flowers on unequal pedicels 2 – 5 × the perianth length, without basal bracteoles.
Perianth : Star-shaped; tepals lanceolate, 6 – 8 mm, almost free at the base, sub-obtuse, usually rose-pink (occasionally white) with a green, pink or whitish keel.
Stamens : Inserted at two-thirds the perianth height; filaments connate and dilated at the base, pink or white; anthers black-purple, brown or yellow, matching tepal colour.
Capsule : Ovoid-rounded, papery, exposed after anthesis when the tepals reflex.
Flowering period : March – May.
Habitat & ecology : Deep, fertile soils of cereal fields and other cultivated ground; smaller forms (traditionally called var. dumetorum) occur on uncultivated, shrubby slopes.
Native range : Mediterranean basin and Canary Islands; in Lebanon from Damour northwards to Tripoli and inland to the Mount Lebanon mid-belt, and widely scattered in western Syria.