On the PBS wiki Allium page, I invite you to take a look at the "Allium Hybrids" subpage at: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… Of particular note, I placed an image of an Allium cernuum x unknown parent that is very unique and lovely. A discussion of Allium hybrids could get very long, but I'd like to make a few comments. 1. It seems extraordinary to me that so few cases of natural hybridization are recorded to occur in the wild, given that Allium is such a huge genus. About the best known case in literature is the Flora of the USSR which reports on intergradation between the two blue species A. coeruleum and A. caesium. Thad Howard spoke, in personal correspondance, of finding intermediates between the Texas endemic Allium coryi (yellow) and Allium drummondii (pink, red, to rarely white) where their range overlapped. 2. A tremendous amount of work has been done studying the genus Allium, not because of ornamental onions, but because of their importance as a world vegetable crop. It's been shown that species that are very different taxonomically (species in different sections of the genus) are more likely to hybridize than those that are closely related. I'm not sure how much of this I believe as certainly closed related species like nutans, senescens, albidum, angulosum, etc., all hybridize with reckless abandon. But then again, there are documented successful crosses between such unlikely things as A. cepa (onion) x A. senescens. 3. In the garden, once one grows enough species, once critical mass of genetic diversity has been reached, it seems that the self-sown hybrids appear with such frequency that I'm loathe to throw away all of the thousands of seedlings that appear in the paths between my allium beds, for fear of throwing away something different. I missed taking a picture this summer of one such "franken-onion", a bizzare Allium cernuum hybrid... it had a stocky inflorescence of deep pink flowers but in addition to the florets held aloft on long dropping pedicels, it had lots of flowers custered tight in the center as well. I showed it to a friend and fellow allium fancier, and she laughed out loud seeing this weird plant... weird but fun. 4. The potential for developing new, interesting, and beautiful allium hybrids has been largely ignored. There has been a focus on the developing section Melanocrommyum hybrids (the giant "ball onions"), which includes such things as 'Globus', 'Globemaster', 'Gladiator', etc. However, no one has bothered much with the rest of the genus, particularly with the summer growing rhizomatous onions. The potential is tremendous. Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5 ============================================== >> web site under construction - http://www.plantbuzz.com/ << alliums, bulbs, penstemons, hardy hibiscus, western american alpines, iris, plants of all types!