Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Botany picture #15: Allium farreri


Allium farreri in the Botanic Garden of Zürich University, 2009. The genus Allium is of course familiar to us all from garlic, onion, leek and chives. It contains many more edible species that are used locally in various parts of the world but also a great number of very attractive plants with ornamental potential. I like the group very much although I never had particular research interest in monocots so far.

The short half-life of suprageneric classifications of petaloid monocots has become something of a running joke in botany, and I am not sure whether and why the genus should now be considered to be a member of the Liliaceae, the Amaryllidaceae or the Alliaceae.

No comments:

Post a Comment