Allium nigrum

Allium nigrum, common name black garlic, broad-leaved leek,[2] or broadleaf garlic, is a Middle Eastern species of wild onion. It lacks the onion or garlic scent shared by most of the other species in the group. The species is native to Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel but cultivated as an ornamental in many other places.[1] It has become naturalized in some regions, including parts of the United States (especially Washington and Oregon).[3][4]

For other uses, see Black garlic.

Black garlic
1809 illustration (as Allium magicum)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Allioideae
Genus: Allium
Species:
A. nigrum
Binomial name
Allium nigrum
L., not All. (1785) nor Sm. (1823) nor M. Bieb. (1808)
Synonyms[1]
Synonymy
  • Allium afrum (Zucc.) Kunth
  • Allium bauerianum Baker
  • Allium cyrilli var. magicum (L.) Nyman
  • Allium littoreum G.Don
  • Allium magicum L.
  • Allium multibulbosum Jacq.
  • Allium nigrum f. album Maire
  • Allium nigrum f. roseum Maire
  • Allium odorum Ten. 1811, illegitimate homonym not L. 1767
  • Allium paniculatum Viv. 1824, illegitimate homonym not L. 1759
  • Allium paucibulbosum (Haw.) Steud.
  • Canidia magica (L.) Salisb.
  • Kalabotis nigrum (L.) Raf.
  • Molium nigrum (L.) Haw.
  • Molium paucibulbosum Haw.
  • Ophioscorodon magicum (L.) Wallr.
  • Ornithogalum afrum Zucc.
Inflorescence
Leaves and stem

Description

Allium nigrum produces asymmetric bulbs up to 5 cm across. Each plant has 3-6 leaves, lanceolate in shape, flat and bent to the side, up to 60 cm long and 2.5 cm across. Later the leaves become reflexed. Scapes are smooth and round in cross-section, 80–100 cm tall. The scape carries a dense umbellate inflorescence with star-like flowers up to 9 mm across; the tepals are white with a green midvein; the anthers are purple or yellow. The ovaries are black-green (but flushed with red in the Levant) in anthesis, but green when younger or following anthesis.[3][4][5][6][7]

Taxonomy

It is the type species of Subgenus (Section) Melanocrommyum. Molecular evidence suggests that A. nigrum is a polymorphous species consisting of several infraspecific groups.[8]

Subdivision

Alliances:[8]

  • Allium nigrum
  • Allium asclepiadeum
  • Allium orientale

Allium nigrum alliance: Allium nigrum L. and A. multibulbosum Jacq. have often been treated as variants within a variable A. nigrum sensu lato. The type variant, A. nigrum sensu stricto is characterised by rose oblong tepals, rose filaments, and distinctly tri-sulcate, strongly coarse, dull, permanently green ovaries, while A. multibulbosum have white to pinkish-carmine, oblong tepals, filaments of the same color as tepals, but rounded, narrowly hexasulcate, smooth and commonly glossy ovaries. The latter commonly turn green from black, but some are permanently green. These variants are in a sister group relationship. The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCLSPF) treat these as separate species.[1][9]

However, Allium basalticum has been considered sufficiently distinct on molecular grounds, to be recognised as a new separate species.[10] Another distinct species is Allium dumetorum.[11][8]

Allium asclepiadeum alliance: Allium asclepiadeum Bornm. was initially considered a separate species, but then submerged in A. nigrum. It has again been treated as a separate species based on molecular data, but under the new name of Allium meronense Fragman & R.M. Fritsch. WCLSPF, while accepting this new species,[12] have retained A. asclepiadeum as a separate species.[13][8]

Allium orientale alliance: descriptions of Allium orientale Boiss. have varied, resulting in the name being applied to a variety of different plants, a concept not supported by molecular data which indicate Allium israeliticum Fragman & R.M. Fritsch, as a distinct new species. WCLSPF recognises both as distinct species.[14][15][8]

Etymology

The name nigrum (Latin: black) is derived from the colour of the ovaries.[7]

Uses

The plant is a frequent ornamental in European and North American gardens, having been introduced in the early twentieth century.[7] It is produced in Taean and Seosan in South Korea.

References
  1. WCLSPF 2016, A. nigrum
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. Flora of North America v 26 p 243, Allium nigrum
  4. Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third i–xiv, 1–1290. MacMillan, New York.
  5. Linnaeus, Carl von. 1762. Species Plantarum, Editio Secunda 1: 430.
  6. Hitchcock, C. H., A.J. Cronquist, F. M. Ownbey & J. W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Cryptogams, Gymnosperms, and Monocotyledons. 1: 1–914. In C. L. Hitchcock, Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
  7. Fritsch et al 2006.
  8. Fragman-Sapir & Fritsch 2011.
  9. WCLSPF 2016, A. multibulbosum
  10. WCLSPF 2016, A. basalticum
  11. WCLSPF 2016, A. dumetorum
  12. WCLSPF 2016, A. meronense
  13. WCLSPF 2016, A. asclepiadeum
  14. WCLSPF 2016, A. orientale
  15. WCLSPF 2016, A. israeliticum

Bibliography
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