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Small Alpine Onion
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Small Alpine Onion
ative Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Small Alpine Onion, Ornamental Allium
Botanical name: Allium humile    Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)
Synonyms: Allium govanianum, Allium nivale

Small Alpine Onion is a species of onion found at high altitudes in the Himalayas. Flowers are white, star-shaped, in a rather lax umbel 2.5-4 cm across, borne on a leafy stem. Narrow-elliptic petals, about 1 cm long, spread outwards, and are much longer than the stamens. Out flower stalks are usually longer than the flowers. Spathe lobes are broadly ovate. Leaves are many, flat, 2-5 mm broad, blunt, usually shorter at flowering than the stem. The stem itself is 7-25 cm tall. Bulbs are clustered, cylindrical, covered with fibrous leaf-bases. Small Alpine Onion is found on open alpine slopes, from Pakistan to W Nepal, at altitudes of 3000-4000 m. Flowering: June-August.

Identification credit: Pankaj Kumar Photographed at Valley of Flowers & Rohtang Pass.

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