Allium sect. Asteroprason

Memariani, Farshid, Joharchi, Mohammad Reza & Arjmandi, Ali Asghar, 2012, Allium aladaghense (Amaryllidaceae, Allieae), a new species of section Asteroprason from northeast of Iran, Phytotaxa 56 (1), pp. 28-34 : 32

Key to species of Allium sect. Asteroprason

Subsequent to recently described section Asteroprason by Fritsch et al. (2010) and discovery of the new species from NE Iran, the total number of the species of this section has been increased to 8, and a key is provided to facilitate identification of the taxa.

1. Plants of compact stature; tepals in fruiting stage crumpled and not prickly; leaves glabrous (Subsect. Asteroprason ) ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

- Plants of larger stature; tepals in fruiting stage stiff and prickly; leaves hairy or glabrous (Subsect. Christophiana). ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

2. Scape stout, thickened, up to 10 mm in diameter; tepals after anthesis recurved; pedicels in fruiting stage up to 9 cm long; leaves in upper part spirally twisted ................................................................................... Allium helicophyllum

- Scape weak, up to 8 mm in diameter; tepals after anthesis patent; pedicels in fruiting stage not more than 4.5 cm long; leaves not twisted ................................................................................................................................................ 3

3. Tepals ± dark violet, after anthesis not much changing; leaves 0.3–1.1 cm wide; plants smaller in habit ................... ....................................................................................................................................................... Allium monophyllum

- Tepals purple, pink, lilac, white, after anthesis longitudinally enrolled; leaves up to 8 cm wide; plants larger in habit ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

4. Pedicels up to 4.5 cm long; scape up to 15 (20) cm long; tepals purple or lilac .......................................................... 5

- Pedicels up to 2.5 cm long; scape up to 8 cm long; tepals pink or white ..................................................................... 6

5. Flowers funnel-star like; ovary surface glass-like glossy and colorless; filaments 3/5 to 2/3 as long as tepals ........... ........................................................................................................................................................... Allium elburzense

- Flowers flat-star like; ovary with coarse surface; filaments nearly as long as tepals ............. Allium pseudobodeanum

6. Leaves 1.5–3 cm wide; tepals white, at base 0.5–1 mm wide; filaments violet, at base white ...... Allium aladaghense

- Leaves 5–8 cm wide; tepals pink to brownish red, sometimes white, at base 1.5–2 mm wide; filaments white, at tip carmine to violet ............................................................................................................................ Allium kuhsorkhense

7. Leaves hairy, rarely subglabrous; pedicels up to 11 cm long; filaments 1/2 as long as tepals ............ Allium cristophii

- Leaves glabrous; pedicels up to 6 cm long; filaments 2/3 as long as tepals ............................................. Allium ellisii