White Garlic

Mediterranean region and Sinai.

Widespread in the Mediterranean region, Sinai.

Sandy and stony places.

Perennial.

Foodplant / sap sucker
Neotoxoptera formosana sucks sap of Allium neapolitanum

It is a commonly cultivated species in gardens.

Allium neapolitanum is a garden escape, introduced from southern Europe.

Plants up to 50 cm tall. Bulbs globose, coats scaly, thick, whitish. Leaves shorter than the scape, linear, up to 2 cm broad. Scape angular. Umbels with laxly arranged flowers. Pedicels up to 3 cm long. Tepals pure white, elliptic to ovate, obtuse, 7-9 mm long. Filaments about half the length of the tepals, triangular, entire. Style longer than the stamens.

Bulbs 1–10+, not clustered on stout primary rhizome, rhizomes absent, bulbs absent or ± equaling parent bulbs, never appearing as basal cluster, subglobose, 1–2 × 1–2 cm; outer coats enclosing renewal bulbs, brown, cellular-reticulate, membranous, reticulum delicate, cells ± quadrate, without fibers; inner coats white, cells obscure, ± rectangular, vertically elongate. Leaves persistent, green at anthesis, 2–3, sheathing proximal 1/5–1/4 scape; blade solid, flat, not falcate, carinate, 15–50 cm × 5–20 mm, margins entire to denticulate. Scape persistent, solitary, erect, solid, ± triquetrous, 2-edged or slightly winged proximally, terete distally, 20–60 cm × 2–7 mm. Umbel persistent, erect, loose, 10–25-flowered, ± hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bract persistent, 1, 8–9-veined, ovate, ± equal, equaling pedicel, apex acute. Flowers ± erect, saucer-shaped, 7–12 mm; tepals spreading, white, broadly elliptic, ± equal, becoming membranous and connivent over capsule, margins entire, apex obtuse; stamens included; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; ovary crestless; style linear, ± equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; pedicel 15–35 mm. Seed coat not known.

introduced; Calif.; s Europe.

Flowering Mar--Apr.

Disturbed sites; 0--100m.

Allium neapolitanum is a bulbous herbaceous perennial plant in the onion subfamily within the Amaryllis family. Common names include Neapolitan garlic, Naples garlic, daffodil garlic, false garlic, flowering onion, Naples onion, Guernsey star-of-Bethlehem, star, white garlic, and wood garlic.

Its native range extends across the Mediterranean Region from Portugal to the Levant. The species is cultivated as an ornamental and has become naturalized in many areas, including Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, and in southern and western parts of the United States. It is classed as an invasive species in parts of the U.S., and is found primarily in the U.S. states of California, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.

Allium neapolitanum produces round bulbs up to 2 cm (0.79 in) across. The scape is up to 25 cm (9.8 in) tall, round in cross-section but sometimes with wings toward the bottom. The inflorescence is an umbel of up to 25 white flowers with yellow anthers.

Allium neapolitanum seems to have beta-adrenergic antagonist properties.