Allium
Allium is the onion genus, with about 1,250 species, making it one of the largest plant genera in the world. Allium is classified in family Alliaceae although some botanical authorities have included it in the lily family (Liliaceae).
The Allium 'Fireworks Mixed Colors', 'Allium fireworks', a fall planted ornamental onion bulb, will produce flowers of purple, yellow and white colors. These miniature allium plants work very well as a front border or in a rock garden. They are great for ornamental value and widely used for both landscape and cut flower purposes. The blooms are pleasantly fragrant and this plant is an easy and prolific addition to the garden. Alliums will grow in any average soil, doing even better in rich, well-drained soil. These plants are rabbit, squirrel, and deer resistant. Allium Fireworks minatures has a bloom period of about 3 weeks and they bloom in late spring to early summer.
The Allium 'Rainbow Mix', Aillium, is a mixture of Allium varieties that produce small, bell-shaped flower clusters for a long bloom season. These jewel-toned beauties take off right where early bulbs like Grape Hyacinths leave off. In late spring–every spring–with this mix, you'll have a fantastic multicolored display. Great for the front of the garden and for naturalizing anywhere.The blooms are pleasantly fragrant and this plant is an easy and prolific addition to the garden. Alliums will grow in any average soil, doing even better in rich, well-drained soil. These plants are rabbit, squirrel, and deer resistant. Allium Rainbow Mix has a bloom period of about 3 weeks and they bloom in late spring to early summer.
Allium species are herbaceous perennials with flowers produced on scapes. Ornamental allium species include the popular allium sphaerocephalon (drumsticks), as well as a number of smaller flowering species.
The plants grow from solitary or clustered tunicate bulbs and many have an onion odor and taste. They are perennialized by bulbs that reform annually from the base of the old bulb, or are produced on the ends of rhizomes or, in a few species, at the ends of stolons. A small number of species have tuberous roots. The bulbs have outer coats that are commonly brown or gray, with a smooth texture, and are fibrous, or with cellular reticulation. The inner coats of the bulbs are membranous.
The true number of Allium species is unknown, and estimates vary widely. Members of the genus include many industrial crops and garden vegetables such as onions (A. cepa), shallots (A. oschaninii), leeks (A. ampeloprasum), scallions (A. ascalonicum) and herbs such as garlic (A. sativum) and chives (A. schoenoprasum). They are perennial bulbous plants that produce chemical compounds (mostly cysteine sulfoxide) that give them a characteristic onion or garlic taste and odor, and many are used as food plants, though not all members of the family are equally flavorful. In most cases, both bulb and leaves are edible. Their taste may be strong or weaker depending on the species.
Allium species occur in temperate climates of the northern hemisphere, except for a few species occurring in Chile (such as Allium juncifolium), Brazil (Allium sellovianum) or tropical Africa (Allium spathaceum). They can vary in height between 5 cm and 150 cm. The flowers form an umbel at the top of a leafless stalk. The bulbs vary in size between species, from very small (around 2–3 mm in diameter) to rather large (8–10 cm). Some species (such as Welsh onion, A. fistulosum) develop thickened leaf-bases rather than forming bulbs as such.
Many alliums have basal leaves that commonly wither away from the tips downward before or while the plant flower, but some species have persistent foliage. Plants produce from one to twelve leaves, most species having linear, channeled or flat leaf blades. The leaf blades are straight or variously coiled, but some species have broad leaves, including A. victorialis and A. tricoccum. The leaves are sessile, and very rarely narrowed into a petiole.
The terete or flattened flowering scapes are normally persistent. The inflorescences are umbels, in which the outside flowers bloom first and flowering progresses to the inside. Some species produce bulbils within the umbels, and in some species the bulbils replace some or all the flowers. The umbels are subtended by noticeable spathe bracts which are commonly fused and normally have around 3 veins.
The flowers are erect or in some species pendent, having six petal-like tepals produced in two whorls. The flowers have one style and six epipetalous stamens; the anthers and pollen can vary in color depending on the species. The ovaries are superior, and three-lobed with three locules.
The fruits are capsules that open longitudinally along the capsule wall between the partitions of the locule. The seeds are black, and have a rounded shape.
Some bulbous alliums increase by forming little bulbs or “offsets” around the old one, as well as by seed. Several species can form many bulbils in the flowerhead; in the so-called “tree onion” or Egyptian onion (A. cepa Proliferum Group) the bulbils are few, but large enough to be pickled.
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