Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

2. Allium alibile Steud. ex A. Rich.
ALLIUM 209
Fig. 97. Allium subhirsutum, from Semien Mountains, Gonder floristic region.
Allium alibile
Description
Habitat and
distribution
The specific epithet ‘alibile’ refers to the nutritious
(alibilis) bulb. The species is distinguished from the
former species by its umbel with the ring of bracteoles
and the smooth leaves.
Herb with a strong smell of garlic when crushed. Bulb small, cormlike
globose to oblong. Leaves 2–5, flat or with mid-rib and keel in
the lower parts, smooth along the margins. Inflorescence a dense
spherical umbel, few to many flowered. Pedicels unequal, the ones
at the center twice as long as the outer ones. Perianth segments
white, flushed pale purple, with dark green mid-veins, elliptic to
elliptic obovate, 3.5–5 mm long. Capsule enclosed by the persistent
calyx.
It grows in open dry Acacia woodland on light gypsum
soil with a rich herb flora, and also in montane grassland
at about an altitude of 1600 m in Tigray and Shewa
floristic regions. It also possibly occurs in the Sudan. The
main flowering period in Ethiopia is in September.