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 southwestern Asia and North Africa,
Allium ampeloprasum has been differentiated into five cultivated vegetables, namely leek, elephant garlic, pearl onion, kurrat, and Persian leek. Some sources (especially archeological ones) refer to each of these as a separate species,.
Description
Wild populations produce bulbs up to across. Scapes are round in cross-section, each up to tall, bearing an
umbel of as many as 500 flowers. Flowers are urn-shaped, up to across;
tepals white, pink or red;
anthers yellow or purple;
pollen yellow.
[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.]
Distribution and habitat
Allium ampeloprasum is regarded as
Native species to all the countries bordering on the
Black Sea,
Adriatic Sea, 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, Afghanistan, 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.
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.[CHRISTOPHER D. PRESTON, DAVID A. PEARMAN, ALLAN R. HALL (2004) Archaeophytes in Britain Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (3), 257–294 , p. 264]
Cultivation
Allium ampeloprasum is the source of several vegetables, most notably:
-
Leek (var. porrum)
-
Elephant garlic or great-headed garlic (var. ampeloprasum)
-
Pearl onion (var. sectivum)
-
Kurrat (var. kurrat),
[Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (2004) Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA Foundation, Wageningen; Backhuys, Leiden; CTA, Wageningen.] Egyptian leek or salad leek. This variety has small bulbs, and primarily the leaves are eaten.
-
Persian leek ( A. ampeloprasum ssp. persicum). A cultivated allium native to the Middle East and Iran, grown for culinary purposes and called tareh in Persian. The linear green leaves have a mild onion flavor and are eaten raw, either alone, or in food combinations.
== Gallery ==
unfurling to reveal buds]]
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See also
External links
