Alliaceae (al-ee-AY-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Grow from bulbs
- Narrow, basal leaves sheath the stem
- Small flowers in umbels
- Oniony smell
Description (Jepson)
- Monocotyledons (monocots) – monocots are a major lineage of flowering, mostly herbaceous plants, generally characterized by
- Single seed leaf (cotyledon)
- Linear or oblong leaves with parallel venation
- Flower parts in threes
- Pollen grains with a single pore
- Vascular bundles scattered in stem
- Fibrous root system
- Perennial herbs
- Geophytes (plants with underground storage organs)
- Grow from bulbs (short underground stems with fleshy leaves, e.g. culinary onion) or, occasionally, from rhizomes (horizontal underground stems)
- Stem is usually a scape (leafless stem rising from ground level)
- Leaves
- Basal and sheathing the stem
- Long and strap-like, with flat, tubular, or channeled faces
- Usually wither before flowers appear
- Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) is an open umbel (a spoke-like flower cluster with stalks radiating from a single point), with 2 bracts (modified leaves)
- Small, bisexual, radially-symmetric flowers
- 3 petals and 3 sepals (outer flower parts), in 2 separate whorls, similar in appearance and collectively called tepals
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
- Fruit is a many-seeded capsule (a dry, multi-chambered fruit that splits open)
Notes
- Approximately 800 species worldwide
- Includes many species cultivated for food (e.g. garlic, chives, culinary onions) and ornamentals
- Geophytes (e.g. plants growing from bulbs, corms, rhizomes, or enlarged taproots) are well adapted to survive fire, our Mediterranean climate’s long, dry summers, and extended droughts
- Above-ground growth dies back after flowering, while underground the plant survives with stored water and nutrients
- Plants have an onion-like odor and taste
- Contain the chemical compound alliin, which converts to allyl sulfide compounds (allicin) when the plant is wounded (Simpson 2019)
- Native people harvested many Onion-family species and other edible geophytes (Anderson 2005)
- Bulbs were boiled, steamed, roasted, or baked in earthen ovens
- Tender shoots and leaves of onions were eaten as fresh herbs
- Plants were actively managed
- Hardwood sticks were used for digging
- Some plants were spared to allow future crops
- Bulblets were dispersed and replanted
- Areas were burned to decrease competition and recycle nutrients
- Scientific name from the included genus Allium, from the Latin for “garlic”
- Variously placed in other monocot families in the past, including the Lily family (Liliaceae), and, currently, the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
- Represented by 4 species at Edgewood
Specific References
Anderson, M.K. 2005. Tending the Wild. University of California, Berkeley.
Simpson, M.G. 2019. Plant Systematics (3rd ed.). Elsevier.
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family
