Description
Allium arlgirdense is an odd, late summer flowering, miniature species related and in many ways similar to A. microspathum. The main difference to note is the white to very pale pink flower colour in arlgirdense. The white is sometimes speckled with minuscule purplish dots. Allium arlgirdense grows and makes its foliage when water is present in spring, either from melting snows or early rains. It is at this time that the flower stem and buds develop, but the plant then becomes totally leaf dormant when the water supply becomes short in summer. However it sits with its scape and buds, wrapped in these dead leaf sheaths, until late summer when the flowers open and get pollinated. This happens close to the arrival of the earliest autumn rains to swell the ovaries and ripen the seed.
In cultivation it should not be watered once the leaf growth dies and withers in late spring or early summer. It is then vital that you do not tidy away the dead leaves (which protect the scape and buds) since if your lose the “dead” spring-summer flower stems you will destroy the buds and flowers. This is excellent in a pot in a well drained, loam-based compost. It has small bulbs (although in fact they are quite large for the small size of the plant) which can be closely planted to make a good display.
Ours stock is traceable to material first found in a high mountain area in SE Turkey, Karabet Pass, Van province. However it is known to also occur in Sirnak & Hakkari provinces extending into Iraq whence it was described by R. A. Blakelock from a 1932 collection. To our knowledge this has never before been offered and it was only introduced to our lists in June 2016.
