Allium sikkimense

{{short description|Species of plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Allium sikkimense 146-8858.jpg

|name = Sikkim onion
blue-flowered onion
高山韭 gao shan jiu

|taxon = Allium sikkimense

|parent = Allium subg. Reticulatobulbosa

|authority = Baker

|synonyms=*Allium cyaneum var. brachystemon Regel

  • Allium kansuense Regel
  • Allium tibeticum Rendle

|synonyms_ref=[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-296606 The Plant List]

}}

Allium sikkimense is a plant species native to Sikkim, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India and parts of China (Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan). It grows in meadows and on the edges of forests at elevations of 2400–5000 m.[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027533 Flora of China v 24 p 178, Allium sikkimense] The species is cultivated as an ornamental in other regions because of its strikingly beautiful blue flowers.[http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/2832?actionName=view_flowers&itemname=ALLIUM+SIKKIMENSE&page=8 Plant World Seeds, Newton Abbot, Devon, United Kingdom][http://www.sequimrareplants.com/Allium%20sikkimense.html Sequim Rare Plants, Sequim, Washington State, USA][http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/125540/ Dave's Garden Plant Files] It is used medicinally in the Sikkim Eastern Himalayas. {{cite journal |last1=O'Neill |first1=A. R.|last2=Badola |first2=H.K. |last3=Dhyani |first3=P. P. |last4=Rana |first4=S. K. |date=2017 |title=Integrating ethnobiological knowledge into biodiversity conservation in the Eastern Himalayas |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=21 |doi=10.1186/s13002-017-0148-9 |pmid=28356115 |pmc=5372287 |doi-access=free }}

Allium sikkimense has a cluster of narrow bulbs generally less than 5 mm in diameter. Scape is up to 40 cm tall. Leaves are flat, narrow, shorter than the scape, up to 5 mm wide. Umbel is a densely crowded hemisphere of blue flowers.[http://www.botanicus.org/page/1897159 Baker, John Gilbert. 1874. Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 12(142): 292–293.][http://www.botanicus.org/page/1309892 Regel, Eduard August von. 1887. Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaničeskago Sada 10(2): 690, as Allium kansuense][http://www.botanicus.org/page/1939429 Rendle, Alfred Barton. 1906. Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 44(2): 41–42, as Allium tibeticum]

References