Allium winklerianum

 Allium winklerianum - from Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, and
one province of China.  I like this species a lot, as the flowers are an
intense, luminous pink-purple, as well as heavily perfumed like sugar
candy.  My two daughters confirmed that the flowers smell like "Pez"
or "Smarties", popular hard sugar candies in the United States.

Stems about 24" (60 cm) tall, the flower heads are
held in low-domed, wide clusters, another variation on the familiar
theme of swaying knobs of colored blooms atop slender stems. In
the few bulbs I purchased, I see some color variation, the plant
on the left is darker color.  In the photo below, a spider makes
a perch in the allium bloom head and traps a bee.

Photos by Mark McDonough
(photos taken May 2002)

[ back to the Allium 'melanocrommyum' gallery ]