2010/09/01 by Hyeok Jae Choi, J. Hugo Cota‐Sánchez · 28 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Garlic and Onion Studies #Plant Pathogens and Resistance #Plant Disease Resistance and Genetics #Herbarium #Taxon #Biology #Allium #Conservation status #Taxonomy (biology) #Rare species #Botanical garden #Ecology #Botany #Geography #Habitat
paper · doi:10.1139/b10-056
published in Botany 88(9), 787-809 (Canadian Science Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2010/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The taxonomy, rarity, and conservation status of Allium L. is revised for the Canadian prairie provinces, based on analyses of herbarium specimens and fieldwork. Five species are recognized: Allium schoenoprasum L., A. geyeri S. Watson var. tenerum M.E. Jones, A. textile A. Nelson & J.F. Macbride, A. cernuum Roth, and A. stellatum Ker Gawler. Distribution maps and a key to species are provided, as well as complete descriptions of the species examined, including new illustrations, information on nomenclatural types, synonymies, and chromosomal and ecological data. A lectotype is designated for A. geyeri var. tenerum. In this study, A. geyeri var. geyeri reported from Alberta and Saskatchewan and ranked in these provinces as having rarity levels S2 and S1, respectively, by the Nature Conservancy, is excluded from the Canadian flora and the rare list of these provinces because it was misidentified from a herbarium specimen of A. textile. Allium tricoccum Solander in W. Aiton is regarded as a non-native species to Manitoba. The rarity and conservation status of Allium in the Canadian prairie provinces is as follows: (i) A. schoenoprasum, listed as S2 in Saskatchewan, is rare in Manitoba, although its rarity status has not been formally assessed in the province; (ii) A. geyeri var. tenerum is the rarest Allium taxon, with distribution restricted to the Waterton Lakes National Park areas of Alberta, and is currently listed as S2; and (iii) A. cernuum was re-evaluated and a rarity level of S1S2 was recommended for the species in Saskatchewan, particularly in its southwestern distributional habitat.