Lombardy garlic

Description

Allium insubricum, the Lombardy garlic, is a species of flowering plant endemic to the Lombardy region in northern Italy. It is named for Insubria, the ancient name for the area around present-day Milan. The species is, however, widely cultivated as an ornamental because of its strikingly beautiful flowers. Allium insubricum is a bulbous herbaceous perennial belonging to the genus Allium, which includes all the culinary and ornamental onions and garlic. It grows up to 25 cm tall. It has flat, linear leaves up to 10 mm across, tapering toward the tip. Scape is hooked at the top, so that the umbel as a whole is nodding (hanging downward). Flowers are few, usually no more than 5 per umbel, but much larger than most other species in the genus. Tepals are rosy pink. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. Allium narcissiflorum is very similar to A. insubricum but found at higher elevation in the mountains. In A. insubricum, the umbel is nodding (hanging downward) at flowering time and remaining nodding when the seeds are mature. In A. narcissiflorum, however, the umbel is nodding at flowering time but erect at maturity.