天蒜 tian suan

Allium albostellerianum F. T. Wang & T. Tang.

Bulb solitary, narrowly ovoid-cylindric, 0.5--1.5 cm in diam.; tunic yellowish brown to blackish brown, sometimes tinged with red, papery, laciniate, sometimes subfibrous. Leaves broadly linear to linear-lanceolate, shorter than to subequaling scape, 5--15(--23) mm wide, apex acuminate. Scape (15--)30--50 cm, terete, covered with leaf sheaths for ca. 1/2 its length. Spathe 1-valved, persistent or deciduous; beak to 7 cm. Umbel laxly many flowered. Pedicels subequal, 2--4 × as long as perianth, ebracteolate. Perianth white; segments with green midvein; outer ones ovate, boat-shaped, 3--4.5 × 1.5--2.5 mm; inner ones ovate-oblong, 3.2--5 × 1.5--2.5 mm, apex truncate or obtuse. Filaments equal, 1.5--2 × as long as perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments; outer ones subulate; inner ones broadened at base, 1-toothed on each side, teeth 1.5--2 mm, irregularly denticulate at apex. Ovary obovoid, with concave nectaries covered by hoodlike projections at base. Style exserted. Fl. and fr. Aug--Sep. 2 n = 16*.

* Forests, shady and moist slopes, streamsides; 1400--2000 m. W Henan, S Nei Mongol (Yin Shan), S Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan.