Allium chanetii H. Léveillé; A. grayi Regel; A. grayi var. chanetii (H. Léveillé) H. Léveillé; A. iatasen H. Léveillé; A. nereidum Hance; A. nipponicum Franchet & Savatier; A. ouensanense Nakai; A. uratense Franchet.

Bulb solitary, subglobose, 0.7--1.5(--2) cm in diam., usually with bulbels at base; tunic blackish, papery or membranous, entire. Leaves shorter than scape, 2--5 mm wide, semiterete or 3-angled-semiterete, abaxially strongly 1-angled, fistulose, adaxially channeled. Scape 30--70 cm, terete, covered with leaf sheaths for 1/4--1/3 its length. Spathe 2-valved, persistent. Umbel hemispheric to globose, densely many flowered, bearing bulblets and flowers or bulblets only. Pedicels subequal, 3--5 × as long as perianth, bracteolate. Perianth pale purple to pale red; segments oblong-ovate to oblong-lanceolate, equal, 4--5.5 × 1.2--2 mm; inner ones usually shorter than outer. Filaments equal, 1/2 as long as to slightly shorter than perianth segments, connate and adnate to perianth segments, base triangular; inner ones ca. 1/2 as wide as outer at base. Ovary subglobose, with concave nectaries covered by hoodlike projections at base. Style exserted. Fl. and fr. May--Jul. 2 n = 16, 24, 32*, 40*, 48.

Hills, slopes, valleys, plains; near sea level to 1600 m (to 3000 m in Xizang and Yunnan). Throughout China except Hainan, Qinghai, and Xinjiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia (Far East)].