Xenoflor
Allium sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon - Calandstraat, Leiden, NL 13 Jul 2009 09 Leo
Notes on taxonomy: A confused mess below the species level.
Kew (www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Allium-sphaerocephalon.htm) makes an attempt at a summary of subspecies, but without full synonym lists it is unclear if the writer omitted some subspecies (A. sphaerocephalum subsp. curtum from Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, A. sphaerocephalon subsp. ebusitanum from Ibiza, A. sphaerocephalon subsp. durandoi from Algeria) due to purpose or oversight. Also, online photographic evidence from Corsica, Malta and Croatia indicates that the geographical delimitations of the subspecies are not so strict as indicated. Furthermore Kew mentions the white-flowered subsp. arvense as recognized, but almost all other authorities synonymize this particular taxon with subsp. sphaerocephalon (note also the old synonym var. albidum). A. sphaerocephalon subsp. laxiflora from Sicily as mentioned by Kew is mysterious; it is not in the IPNI, subsp. sphaerocephalon and subsp. arvense are also said to grow on Sicily, and lastly the rather complete Flora Italiana does not mention this taxon. So of the 4 subspecies recognized by Kew, only one seems valid: A. sphaerocephalon subsp. trachypus from Greece and Turkey. Of one last note, the wording throughout the text on distribution and subspecies suggests the author copied it ad verbitam from some pre-1947 publication, but the references indicate that the website got this information from another Kew publication by one B. Mathew in 1996 'A Review of Allium Section Allium', this review must have been very summary, as it seems to have omitted data from the 1976 publication 'A revision of the genus Allium L. (Liliaceae) in Africa' from Wageningen in the Netherlands, plus a relevant Spanish publication from 1993. It would seem to me that B. Mathew copied most of his data on this species from outdated sources.
One wonders at the validity of subsp. sphaerocephalon var. bulbilliferum, considering the cultivar 'Hair', and the f. procumbens also seems questionable, considering the repeated synonymizations of A. descendens or A. sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon var. descendens, and my own experiences growing this on sand. A. sphaerocephalon var. stipitatum from Yugoslavia is unclear; there also seems to be a A. stipitatum from central Asia. For some reason Tela Botanica sees A. sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon var. deseglisei as valid, but the distribution they give makes this taxon a quite doubtful, furthermore the IPNI discards this taxon.
Note also that I am using A. sphaerocephalon subsp. durandoi, but perhaps in error; the African Flowering Plants Database from the Botanical Garden of Geneva synonymizes this with the type.
Allium sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon - Calandstraat, Leiden, NL 13 Jul 2009 09 Leo
Notes on taxonomy: A confused mess below the species level.
Kew (www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Allium-sphaerocephalon.htm) makes an attempt at a summary of subspecies, but without full synonym lists it is unclear if the writer omitted some subspecies (A. sphaerocephalum subsp. curtum from Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, A. sphaerocephalon subsp. ebusitanum from Ibiza, A. sphaerocephalon subsp. durandoi from Algeria) due to purpose or oversight. Also, online photographic evidence from Corsica, Malta and Croatia indicates that the geographical delimitations of the subspecies are not so strict as indicated. Furthermore Kew mentions the white-flowered subsp. arvense as recognized, but almost all other authorities synonymize this particular taxon with subsp. sphaerocephalon (note also the old synonym var. albidum). A. sphaerocephalon subsp. laxiflora from Sicily as mentioned by Kew is mysterious; it is not in the IPNI, subsp. sphaerocephalon and subsp. arvense are also said to grow on Sicily, and lastly the rather complete Flora Italiana does not mention this taxon. So of the 4 subspecies recognized by Kew, only one seems valid: A. sphaerocephalon subsp. trachypus from Greece and Turkey. Of one last note, the wording throughout the text on distribution and subspecies suggests the author copied it ad verbitam from some pre-1947 publication, but the references indicate that the website got this information from another Kew publication by one B. Mathew in 1996 'A Review of Allium Section Allium', this review must have been very summary, as it seems to have omitted data from the 1976 publication 'A revision of the genus Allium L. (Liliaceae) in Africa' from Wageningen in the Netherlands, plus a relevant Spanish publication from 1993. It would seem to me that B. Mathew copied most of his data on this species from outdated sources.
One wonders at the validity of subsp. sphaerocephalon var. bulbilliferum, considering the cultivar 'Hair', and the f. procumbens also seems questionable, considering the repeated synonymizations of A. descendens or A. sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon var. descendens, and my own experiences growing this on sand. A. sphaerocephalon var. stipitatum from Yugoslavia is unclear; there also seems to be a A. stipitatum from central Asia. For some reason Tela Botanica sees A. sphaerocephalon subsp. sphaerocephalon var. deseglisei as valid, but the distribution they give makes this taxon a quite doubtful, furthermore the IPNI discards this taxon.
Note also that I am using A. sphaerocephalon subsp. durandoi, but perhaps in error; the African Flowering Plants Database from the Botanical Garden of Geneva synonymizes this with the type.