Allium victorialis, commonly known as victory onion, Alpine leek, and Alpine broad-leaf allium is a broad-leaved Eurasian species of wild onion. It is a perennial of the Amaryllis family that occurs widely in mountainous regions of Europe (including Caucasus) and parts of Asia (Himalayas).Altervista Flora Italiana, Aglio serpentino, victory onion, alpine leek, Allium victorialis L. includes photos and European distribution map
Some authors consider certain East Asian and Alaskan populations as constituting subspecies platyphyllum within the species Allium victorialis. Recent sources recognize this group as a distinct species, called Allium ochotense.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Allium ochotense Prokh.The Plant List, Allium ochotense Prokh. Kharkevich, S.S. (ed.) (1987). Plantae Vasculares Orientalis Extremi Sovietici 2: 1-448. Nauka, Leningrad.Denisov, N. (2008). Addition to Vascular flora of the Kozlov island (Peter the Great Gulf, Japanese sea). Turczaninowia 11(4): 29-42.
General description Allium victorialis attains a height of and forms a sheathed bulb ("root-stalk") about the thickness of a finger and long.. height; and rootstalk . Leaves are broad, elliptical or lanceolate. Flowers (perianths) are whitish green.
Distribution Allium victorialis is found widely across mountain ranges Europe, as well as the Caucasus and the Himalayas.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Allium victorialis
Nomenclature The specific epithet victorialis comes from the German Siegwurz (Root of Victory), and it earned this name having been "worn as an amulet, to be as safeguard against the attacks of certain impure spirits," by Bohemian miners among others.
Uses The plant, in past centuries in certain mountainous regions of Europe, "was cultivated as a medicinal and fetish plant". The plant known as pukusa to the Ainu people in northern Japan, an important food source, had been classed as A .victorialis subsp. platyphyllum, but recent genetics classify it under its own species, Allium ochotense.
See also sansai ramsons Allium tricoccum (ramps)
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