Allium tuncelianum

Tunceli garlic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
clade:	Angiosperms
clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily:	Allioideae
Genus:	Allium
Species:	A. tuncelianum
Binomial name
Allium tuncelianum (Kollmann) Özhatay, B.Mathew & Şiraneci [1]
Synonyms
A. macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum Kollmann  (basionym) [1][2]

Allium tuncelianum is a species of wild onion which is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey. It has a garlic odor and taste and is used locally like garlic.^[3] Its common names include Tunceli garlic and Ovacik garlic.^[3] Botanists have suggested this species may be a close relative of garlic, and perhaps an ancestor of garlic, but genetic analysis shows that it is actually more closely related to leek.^[3] The plant is collected from the wild for use in cooking, a phenomenon that threatens the plant with extinction.^[3]

Wild range of A. tuncelianum

References

1. ^ ^{a b}  Under the treatment of the name as Allium tuncelianum, this species was published in Kew Bulletin 50(4): 723 (1995) "Plant Name Details for Allium tuncelianum". IPNI. http://www.ipni.org:80/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=985594-1. Retrieved July 27, 2010. "basionym: A. macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum Kollmann" 
2. ^  This species was originally described and published, as Allium macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum, in Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 41(2): 262. 1983. Edinburgh and Glasgow "Plant Name Details for Allium macrochaetum subsp. tuncelianum". IPNI. http://www.ipni.org:80/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=917542-1. Retrieved July 27, 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Ipek, M., et al. (2008). Genetic characterization of Allium tuncelianum: An endemic edible Allium species with garlic odor. Scientia horticulturae 115:409-15.