Allium tuncelianum

Tunceli garlic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
clade: Angiosperms
clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Allioideae
Genus: Allium
Species: A. tuncelianum
Binomial name
Allium tuncelianum
(Kollmann) Özhatay, B.Mathew & Şiraneci [1]
Synonyms

A. macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum Kollmann
 (basionym) [1][2]

Allium tuncelianum is a species of wild onion which is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey. It has a garlic odor and taste and is used locally like garlic.[3] Its common names include Tunceli garlic and Ovacik garlic.[3] Botanists have suggested this species may be a close relative of garlic, and perhaps an ancestor of garlic, but genetic analysis shows that it is actually more closely related to leek.[3] The plant is collected from the wild for use in cooking, a phenomenon that threatens the plant with extinction.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b  Under the treatment of the name as Allium tuncelianum, this species was published in Kew Bulletin 50(4): 723 (1995) "Plant Name Details for Allium tuncelianum". IPNI. http://www.ipni.org:80/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=985594-1. Retrieved July 27, 2010. "basionym: A. macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum Kollmann" 
  2. ^  This species was originally described and published, as Allium macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum, in Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 41(2): 262. 1983. Edinburgh and Glasgow "Plant Name Details for Allium macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum". IPNI. http://www.ipni.org:80/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=917542-1. Retrieved July 27, 2010. 
  3. ^ a b c d Ipek, M., et al. (2008). Genetic characterization of Allium tuncelianum: An endemic edible Allium species with garlic odor. Scientia horticulturae 115:409-15.