ALLIUM NEOPOLITANUM

Family and Genus:- ALLIACEAE/Sect. MOLIUM

Common name:- Naples garlic, Daffodil garlic.

Homotypic Synonyms:- Nectaroscordum neapolitanum.

Meaning:- Allium (L) The ancient Latin name for garlic.

Neopolitanum (L) From Italy, Italian.

General description:- Short to medium bulbous perennial.

Bulbs:-

1) 1-2 cm in diam, subglobose, outer tunics greyish-brown, ± coriaceous, not

pitted.

Stem:-

1) 20-45 cm, leafless, triquetrous, with 2 edges slightly winged.

Leaves:-

1) Usually 2, 8-35 × 5-20 mm, sheathing the lower 1/5-1/4 of the stem and almost

basal, very narrowly lanceolate to linear, keeled beneath, glabrous, sometimes

with denticulate margins.

Flowers:-

1) Umbel, 5-9 cm diam. fastigiate or hemispherical, lax.

2) Spathe, 1-valved, short and thin.

3) Pedicels, filiform, longer than the flowers.

4) Perianth segments, 7-12 mm, patent, obtuse, white.

5) Stamens, much shorter than the perianth.

a) anthers, greenish-yellow.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 5 mm, enclosed within the connivent, glistening perianth-segments.

Key features:-

1) Umbel, lax.

2) Pedicels, usually much longer than the perianth.

3) Stem, trigonous.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry grassy and stony habitats, cultivated and fallow ground, roadsides,

bushy places, open pine forest.

Distribution:- Widespread around the Mediterranean. On Crete previously only

recorded from the Akrotiri peninsula W. Crete.

Flowering time:- Feb-May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton