Allium oleraceum
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox Allium oleraceum, the field garlic, is a Eurasian species of wild onion. It is a bulbous perennial that grows wild in dry places, reaching Template:Convert in height. It reproduces by seed, bulbs and by the production of small bulblets in the flower head (similarly to Allium vineale). Unlike A. vineale, it is very rare with A. oleraceum to find flower-heads containing bulbils only.<ref name="multiple"/> In addition, the spathe in A. oleraceum is in two parts.<ref name="multiple">The Reader's Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain p.382.</ref><ref>Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 1: 299.</ref>
Its specific epithet oleraceum means "vegetable/herbal" in Latin and is a form of Template:Wikt-lang ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
DescriptionEdit
Allium oleraceum grows to a height of about Template:Convert. The underground bulb is up to Template:Convert in diameter. The main stem is usually rounded, but is occasionally flattened, and bears two to four leaves and a terminal inflorescence composed of a number of small, stalked, pinkish-brown flowers and sometimes a few bulblets. The papery bracts have long points which often much overtop the flowers, the stamens of which do not protrude.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Illustration Allium oleraceum0.jpg
1885 Illustration
- Backlök (Allium oleraceum).jpg
DistributionEdit
Allium oleraceum is widespread across most of Europe, with additional populations in Turkey and the Caucasus.<ref>Allium oleraceum L. Altervista Flora Italiana</ref><ref name=yudi/> It is sparingly naturalised in scattered locations in North America.<ref>Flora of North America v 26 p 238, Allium oleraceum</ref><ref>BONAP (Biota of North America Program), floristic synthesis, Allium oleraceum</ref><ref>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.</ref>
In the United Kingdom, A. oleraceum is found in dry, grassy places, usually steeply sloping and calcareous soils, and on open sunny banks in river floodplains. A. oleraceum is scattered throughout England and very scattered in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.<ref name=Stace>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Erosion of coastal areas leads to a reduction in the available habitat for this species, leading to population declines.<ref>UK Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GRFA) Template:Webarchive.</ref> The highest altitude from which it has been recorded in Britain is Template:Convert in Dovedale, Derbyshire.<ref name=OnlineAtlas>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Allium oleraceum subsp. girerdii was formerly included, but is now classified as Allium oporinanthum.<ref name=yudi/>