Allium atrosanguineum Schrenk

This species is closely related to Allium fedtschenkoanum Regel but bulb coating and tepals colour different.

Bulb cylindrical, 4-6 cm long, coats brownish-black, fibrous. Leaves 2-3, cylindrical, 1-3 mm broad, as long as the scape, glabrous, fistular, obtuse. Umbels condensed. Tepals dark purple, 7 mm long, lanceolate, acute. Pedicels as long as or shorter than the flowers. Filaments less than half the length of the tepals, triangular, connate at the base, inner minutely toothed. Style short.

Bulb solitary or clustered, cylindric, 0.5--1 cm in diam.; tunic grayish brown, laciniate, slightly fibrous. Leaves shorter than to subequaling scape, 2--4 mm wide, terete, fistulose. Scape 7--60 cm, terete, covered with leaf sheaths only at base. Spathe 2-valved, blue, persistent. Umbel globose, densely many flowered. Pedicels unequal; outer ones usually shorter than perianth; inner ones usually longer than perianth, ebracteolate. Perianth purple-red, minutely black dotted, and later becoming yellowish white to grayish pink, or else whitish yellow to pink with yellowish base and later becoming yellowish white, or else brass yellow to copper red, lustrous, and later becoming pale yellow with pinkish base and apex; segments oblong-obovate, oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, 7--16 × 3--4 mm, margin sometimes minutely denticulate, apex rounded, subacute, or attenuate; inner ones slightly shorter than or rarely equaling outer. Filaments 5.5--8 mm, shorter than perianth segments, connate into a tube for 1/3--3/4 their length, adnate to perianth segments for 1/2--2/3 of connate part; outer ones subulate; inner ones triangular or shoulder-shaped at base. Ovary obovoid, base usually constricted into a short stipe, with concave nectaries. Style 3.5--7 mm; stigma entire or 3-cleft. Fl. and fr. Jun--Sep. 2 n = 16, 32.

Distribution: Central Asia, Northern regions of Pakistan.

Gansu, Qinghai, W Sichuan, Xinjiang, E and NW Xizang, NW Yunnan [Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].

Meadows, high mountain bogs, streamsides, moist places; 2400--5400 m.

Allium atrosanguineum an Asian species of onion native to China, Siberia, Mongolia, and Central Asia. It grows high in the mountains at elevations of 2400–5400 m.

Allium atrosanguineum produces cylindrical bulbs up to 10 mm in diameter. Scapes are round in cross-section, up to 60 cm tall. Leaves are round in cross-section, usually shorter than the scapes. Umbels appear spherical from a distance, with many flowers. Tepals are pink, yellow, copper-colored, brass-colored or purple, sometimes with small dark spots.

Three varieties are generally recognized:

Allium atrosanguineum var. atrosanguineum—Tepals purple - red with small spots — western China (Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan), Pakistan, Siberia (Tuva, Buryatiya, Krasnoyarsk, Zabaykalsky Krai), Mongolia Allium atrosanguineum var. fedschenkoanum (Regel) G.H.Zhu & Turland - tepals pale yellow or pink — Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan), Pakistan, Tibet, Xinjiang Allium atrosanguineum var. tibeticum (Regel) G.H.Zhu & Turland — tepals copper-colored or brass-colored — Western China (Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan)