Allium altaicum Pall.

Bulb solitary, ovoid-cylindric, 2--4 cm in diam.; tunic red-brown, thinly leathery or hard and leathery, entire or outer layer splitting. Leaves 1/3--1/2 as long as scape, 0.5--2 cm wide, terete, fistulose. Scape 40--100 cm, terete, fistulose, covered with leaf sheaths for 1/4--1/2 its length. Spathe 2-valved, persistent. Umbel globose, densely many flowered. Pedicels subequal, slightly shorter than to 1.5(--2) × as long as perianth, stout, ebracteolate. Perianth white tinged with yellow; outer segments ovate 6--9 × 2.8--4 mm, apex acute or acuminate; inner ones ovate-oblong, equaling or slightly longer than outer. Filaments subulate, equal, 1.5--2 × as long as perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments. Ovary obovoid, with narrow, concave nectaries at base. Style exserted. Fl. and fr. Aug--Sep. 2 n = 16*.

Slopes, plains. W Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol, N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].

Allium ceratophyllum Besser ex Schultes & J. H. Schultes; A. sapidissimum Pallas ex Schultes & J. H. Schultes.