Allium ampeloprasum, L.

76. A. ampeloprasum L. , Sp. PI. 294 (1753) View Cited Treatment .

Bulbs 2-6 cm in diameter, broadly ovoid or subglobose; outer tunic membranous;

bulblets usually numerous, yellowish. Stem 45-180 cm, stout. Leaves 4-10, up to 50 cm x 5-40 mm, linear, flat, canaliculate, with scabrid margin, sheathing the lower of the stem. Spathe 1-valved, caducous. Umbel 5-9 cm in diameter, globose, usually dense, with up to 500 flowers, but with as few as 30 flowers in variants with bulbils; pedicels 15-50 mm, unequal. Perianth cup-shaped or campanulate; segments 4-5-5 x 1-3-2-4 mm, white, pink or dark red, the outer mostly oblong-lanceolate, concave, subacute, mucronate, the inner mostly narrowly ovate or spathulate, obtuse or rounded at apex, equalling or a little shorter than the outer, both with large papillae especially on the keel. Stamens slightly or distinctly exserted; outer 3 filaments 4-6 mm, usually simple, the lower | oblong and 0-5-1 mm wide, contracted above, the inner 3 with the basal lamina oblongelliptical and 1-5-2-5 mm wide, usually at least as wide as the perianth-segments, nearly twice as long as the central cusps. Capsule 4 mm. 2n = 16, 32, 40, 48, 56, 80. Mainly on disturbed ground. S. & W. Europe. Al BI *Br Bu Cr Ga Gr *Hb Hs It Ju Lu Rm Sa Si Tu [Az Co Cz]. Variable, and probably spread by human activity. Normally the umbel has no bulbils. Var. babingtonii (Borrer) Syme ( A. babingtonii Borrer ), with few flowers and bulbils 8-15 mm, occurs in W. Ireland and S.W. England; var. bulbiferum Syme ( A. ampeloprasum var. bulbilliferum Lloyd ), with bulbils 6-8 mm, occurs in the Channel Islands and W. France (Ile d’Yeu, Vendée); both are possibly relics of former cultivation. The species forms a polyploid series; the nomenclatural type from Steep Holm Island, Bristol Channel, England ( var. holmense Ascherson & Graebner ) has 2n = 48. Variants with white flowers of this and of 81 have been thought to be conspecific with A. leucanthum C. Koch ( A. ampeloprasum subsp. leucanthum (C. Koch) Hayek ), an allied species from the Caucasus. A. scopulicola Font Quer , Butli. Inst. Catalana Hist. Nat. 24:144 (1924), from Islas Baléares (Ibiza), is probably conspecific with 76. A. porrum L. , Sp. Pl. 295 (1753) ( A. ampeloprasum var. porrum (L.) Gay ), the cultivated leek, is a cultigen (with 2« = 32) derived from 76 but distinct enough in bulb, life-cycle and chemistry through many centuries of cultivation and selection to be kept apart (cf. B. Bonnet, Saussurea 7: 121-155 (1976)).