Allium senescens

German garlic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily:	Allioideae
Genus:	Allium
Species:	A. senescens
Binomial name
Allium senescens L.
Subspecies
A. s. subsp. montanum A. s. subsp. senescens List source:

Allium senescens, commonly called either German garlic or broadleaf chives, is a perennial plant in the genus Allium.

Description

It produces up to 30 pink flowers in characteristic allium umbels in the mid to late summer and grows to between 8" and 40" in height. The foliage is thin, and strap like.

Taxonomy

Two subspecies have been named:

• Allium senescens subsp. glaucum
• Allium senescens subsp. senescens

Distribution

Allium senescens is indigenous to middle, eastern, southeastern, and southwestern Europe (in Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslavia); Eurasia (in the Ukraine and much of Russia, including Siberia, Amur, Buryatia, Chita, Gorno-Altay, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Primorsky Krai, and Tuva); and Asia (in Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia and China, including the provinces of Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Monggol, and northern Xinjiang). Elsewhere it is also deliberately planted and cultivated for garden use.

Uses

Allium senescens is grown for its ornamental and as a gene source because of its tertiary genetic relationship to A. cepa (the common onion).

External links

• Rob's plants: Allium senescens
• Fine gardening: Allium senescens