Allium ampeloprasum is a member of the
onion genus Allium. The wild plant is commonly known as wild leek or broadleaf wild leek. Its native range is southern Europe to southwestern Asia and North Africa,[2] but it is cultivated in many other places and has become
naturalized in many countries.
The species may have been introduced to
Britain by prehistoric people, where its habitat consists of rocky places near the coast in south-west
England and
Wales.[9][10]
Allium ampeloprasum has been differentiated into five cultivated vegetables, namely
leek,
elephant garlic,
pearl onion, kurrat, and Persian leek.
Wild populations produce bulbs up to 3 cm across.
Scapes are round in cross-section, each up to 180 cm tall, bearing an
umbel of as many as 500 flowers. Flowers are urn-shaped, up to 6 mm across;
tepals white, pink or red;
anthers yellow or purple;
pollen yellow.[4][11]
Vegetables
Allium ampeloprasum comprises several vegetables, of which the most notable ones are:
kurrat,[9][12] Egyptian leek or salad leek – this variety has small bulbs, and primarily the leaves are eaten.
Persian leek (Allium ampeloprasum ssp. persicum) - a cultivated allium native to the Middle East and Iran, grown for culinary purposes and is called tareh in Persian. The linear green leaves have a mild onion flavor and are eaten raw, either alone, or in food combinations.[13]
^CHRISTOPHER D. PRESTON, DAVID A. PEARMAN, ALLAN R. HALL (2004) Archaeophytes in Britain Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (3), 257–294
doi:
10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00284.x, p. 264
^Gleason, H. A. & A.J. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (ed. 2) i–910. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx.
^Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (2004) Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA Foundation, Wageningen; Backhuys, Leiden; CTA, Wageningen.
^Mousavi, Amir; Kashi, Abedolkarim; Davoodi, Daryoush; Shariatpanahi, Mohammad Sanei (2006). "Characterization of an Allium Cultivated in Iran: The Persian Leek". Belgian Journal of Botany. 139 (1): 115–123.
JSTOR20794599.