Alpine leek

Allium victorialis, known as victory onion or alpine leek, is a perennial bulbous herb of the Amaryllidaceae with a wide montane distribution across Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, and East Asia. It grows from a narrow, oblique rhizome bearing one to several elongated bulbs sheathed in distinctive coarse, persistent, net-like fibres. Each bulb produces two or three broad, flat, elliptical leaves 10-25 cm long and 2-7 cm wide that taper into a sheathing petiole and emit a mild garlic-like scent when crushed. A solitary smooth scape 30-60 cm tall bears a dense, globose umbel of small, greenish-white, stellate flowers in early summer. Fruits are three-lobed capsules containing black, angular seeds. The species favours subalpine meadows, woodland margins, and rocky slopes, often on calcareous substrates, and is closely related to the North American ramps (Allium tricoccum).