Seasonal Wild Flowers

Rosy Garlic

Allium roseum

Amaryllidaceae

May to June

It is found in the South, Southwest and East Anglia, and thinly

scattered elsewhere.

For a map see the National Biodiversity Network Gateway

It is a neophyte which has been grown in England since the

1750s, and known in the wild since the 1830s.

It grows on waste ground, hedge banks and by roads, often

on the coast. It is on the increase in the Southwest.

Rosy Garlic is an attractive, bulbous, perennial herb, growing

up to 75cm.

Flowers are in an umbel and up to 12mm across.

They are bell-shaped and dark pink fading to nearly white.

The yellow stamens are shorter than the petals.

Bulbils are at the base of the umbel and are initially covered

in papery bracts.

When mature, they are deep red.

Leaves are narrow, dark green and much shorter than the

flower stems.

The flowers shown here form extensive patches in rough

ground between a road and Chesil beach.

Rosy Garlic, Abbotbury, Dorset

Flower umbel, papery bracts, bulbils

6 stamens and single style

Side view and bracts

Immature bulbils covered with bracts

Mature bulbils

Narrow leaves