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P L v V T E CCCLXXVII.
A L L I U M CHAMtE-MOLY.
T / i e D w a r f M o l y .
C L A S S VL ORDER I.
HEXANI)RIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COKOLLA 6-partita, patens. Spatlia multiflora.
Umbella congesta. Capsula supera.
C O R O L L A 6-parted, expanding. Sheath manyflowered.
Umbel crowded. Capsule above.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C.
ALLIUM, scapo nudo subnullo, capsulis cernuis,
foliis plañís ciliatis.
ALLIUM, witli a naked very short stalk,
drooping capsules, and flat ciliated leaves.
A L L I U M Cham:e-Moly. JVilld. Sp. PL 3. 83.—Cavan. Ic. 3. p. 4. t. 207. f . !•?
D E S C K I P T I O . Radix bulbus parvulus. Folia circiter 4, cmciatim disticha, expansa, linearla, subulata,
basin versus parum canaliculata, et subcarinata ; hirta, prsecipue ad margines, unde ciliata.
Flores umbellati subsessiles. Scapus brevissimus, reconditus, nudus. Spatha monophylla
3—8-flora, membranacea, 3-cuspidata. Pedunculi perbreves, teretes, superne incrassati, post
florescentiam cernui. Pétala 6, lanceolato-linearia, obtusa, alba, costà utrinque virescente. /"ilumenta
6, tenuissima, alba, petalis duplo breviora. Anthera; luteae. Germen superum, turbinatum,
6-sulcatum superne umbilicatum. Stylus albus longitudine filamentorum, sed robustior,
apice furcatus. Stigmata fere nulla.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The sheath.
3. A flower spread open, magnified.
3. The seed-bud and pointal.
4. Tlie same magnified.
A L T H O U G H now an old inhabitant of Üie British gardens. Allium Chamas-Moly has ever been considered
as a rare and interesting one ; and is at present extremely scarce. It has several times been
entirely lost to us, and again introduced from the south of Europe ; where it occurs spontaneously.
In the Hortus Kewensis of Mr. Aiton, it is marked as a hardy species : perhaps inadvertently :
because we never knew it survive a single winter in the open ground near London : notwithstanding
our having repeatedly tried it, in situations by no means unfavourable : hence, possibly, its present
rarity.
It is properly a hardy green-house plant: requires a light soil, and the treatment of an Ixia : increases
both by offisets from tlie root, and by seeds : and flowers annually in the months of January and
Febraary. The leaves die down in April or May. In the stmcture of the flowers, but not tlie
spathe, it agrees with Allium gracile of this work, which is not the gracile of the Hortus Kewensis.
The genus Allium is an extensive one ; but the present is the least species in it, and possesses the
shortest stalk. Cavanilles describes and figures the style as subulate and entire ; but in our plant that
part is forked : and the spathe in his plant differs much from ours.
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