Lily: Garlic Family:-

Garlics are " hairless inbranched bulbous perennials, characterised by their pungent smell of garlic or onion and their flowers, which are often partly or wholly replaced by the bulbils, being in either a tight head or a more open umbel, and enclosed by one or more papery bracts. Leaves all long, though often sheathing for some distance up the stem, and either cylindrical, or linear, flat and keeled, except in Ramsons. The cultivated onion, leek, shallot and garlic belong to this genus, and are occasionally found as garden outcasts on rubbish heaps, etc. " from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978

Lily: Garlic Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Wild Flower Habitat Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Chives

Allium schoenoprasum

June-September

A bulbous perennial herb found as a native in a range of habitats, usually on thin soils over limestone, serpentine and basic igneous rocks; it sometimes grows in rank grass on deeper soils, and in crevices of riverside bedrock. As an alien it grows on roadsides and rubbish tips. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Crow Garlic

(Wild Onion)

Allium vineale

June-July

A bulbous perennial herb of dry, neutral or calcareous soils, generally occurring in summer-dry grasslands, hedgerows, roadsides and cultivated ground, and formerly a serious weed of cereal crops in S.E. England. Also found on coastal cliff ledges in W. Scotland. Generally lowland, but reaching 455 m in Wensleydale (N.W. Yorks.).

Flower at Lydd

Flowers at Lydd

Seeds

Form in East Kent on 11 July

Few-Flowered Leek

Allium paradoxum

April

A bulbous perennial herb, spreading by means of bulbils in a wide variety of, usually ungrazed, situations such as river-banks, roadsides, field margins, other rough and waste ground, and in woodland. Generally lowland, but reaching 375 m at Carter Bar (Roxburghs.).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Field Garlic

Allium oleraceum

July-August

A bulbous perennial herb of dry, usually steeply sloping, calcareous grasslands, and on open sunny banks in river floodplains. 0-365 m (Dovedale, Derbys.).

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Keeled Garlic

Allium carinatum

July-August

A bulbous perennial herb which becomes naturalised by seed (var. pulchellum) or, perhaps more frequently, by bulbils (var. carinatum) in churchyards, rough and waste ground and on roadsides. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Meadow Saffron

Colchicum autumnale

August-September

A cormous perennial herb of damp grassy places, including damp meadows and river banks, but most frequently encountered in clearings and rides within woodland, as it is toxic to livestock and often destroyed when found in grazed situations. Lowland.

Flower in Somerset on 7 September

Flowers in Somerset on 7 September

Fruit on 9 May

Form on 9 May

Ramsons

Allium ursinum

April-June

A bulbous perennial herb of moist woodlands, sometimes growing in more open situations such as riversides and hedge banks and occasionally in rock crevices, in scree and on coastal cliff ledges. Regeneration is primarily by seed. Generally lowland, but reaching c. 450 m at Great Clowder, Malham (Mid-W. Yorks.).

Flower from Isle of Wight. Photo by BritishFlora

Flowers from Isle of Wight. Photo by BritishFlora

Foliage from Isle of Wight. Photo by BritishFlora

Form from Isle of Wight. Photo by BritishFlora

Rosy Garlic

Allium roseum

May-June

A bulbous perennial herb of rough and waste ground, open rocky slopes, hedge banks and roadsides. Lowland.

Flowers at Poltesco in Cornwall on 21 May

Flowers at Cadgwith in Cornwall on 27 May

Seed

Form

Round-Headed Leek

Allium sphaerocephalon

August

A bulbous perennial herb found as a possible native at only two localities: on dry, rocky S.- and W.-facing slopes in the Avon Gorge (W. Gloucs.), and on rough, sandy ground by the sea at St. Aubin`s Bay, Jersey. Both populations are very small. Lowland.

Flower at Rochester in Kent

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Sand Leek

Allium scorodoprasum

May-August

A bulbous, perennial herb spreading mainly by bulbils in rough grassland and waste ground, on road verges and track sides and by railways. It sometimes occurs in more natural habitats such as sandy river banks, open woodlands on well-drained soils and a variety of coastal situations. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Three-Cornered Leek

Allium triquetrum

April-June

A bulbous perennial herb, spreading by ant-dispersed seed on roadsides, in hedge banks, on field margins and in rough and waste ground. Lowland.

Flower at Poltseco in Cornwall on 21 May

Flowers at Poltseco on 21 May

Foliage at Poltseco on 21 May

Form at Poltseco on 21 May

Wild Leek

Allium ampeloprasum

July-August

A robust, bulbous perennial herb of rank vegetation in sandy and rocky places near the sea, especially in old fields and hedge banks, on sheltered cliff-slopes, by paths and tracks and in drainage ditches and other disturbed places. Var. ampeloprasum reproduces mainly by seed, whereas the other varieties spread mainly by bulbils. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form