National collections programs
Antennaria@aol.com (Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:29:44 PDT)

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org wrote:

I looked at the collections page on your web site:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/holdings.html

As expected in an agricultural site it
appears a lot of the holdings are crops.
It doesn't look like there are a lot of bulbs.
Allium, as a source of food, makes sense.
Would the emphasis be on collecting ones
that were eaten? Looking through some of
the species held at Pullman with a quick
browse I saw they they are not holding many
of the Pacific northwest species I grow.

Mary Sue, you hit the nail on the head. In my experience, the Allium
collections held ny USDA at Pullman, Washington, represent a mostly agricultural face
of the genus, consistent with the fact the important genus Allium has been a
food crop for centuries, and remains an important food crop. Allium is among
the most intensively studied agricultural crops, right up there with corn.

They (USDA at Pullman) are indeed free with sharing seed of their collections
for the asking of serious growers, which I have partaken in the past. The
species they grow are mostly those closely affiliated with the cultivated
entities that represent the food crop allium; Allium cepa, porrum, schoenoprasum,
ampelosprasum, etc. Of the Allium schoenoprasum forms I tried, I didn't see
much variation in the resulting plants, whereas, from forms of Allium
schoenoprasum I've received from known wild sources, including dwarf forms from Finland,
Crete, New Foundland, and other locales, the plants is amazing diverse.

There are germplasm Allium collections, in which the focus is of a more
ornamental horticultural persuasion, such as Kew in England, Gatersleben in
Germany, and among preeminent collectors of the genus such as with plant explorer and
botanist Arnis Seisums from Latvia (many of his collections, available from
Janis Ruksans, also in Latvia). I hope to put together a photo gallery of some
of these extra fine ornamental allium soon, to include Allium oreophilum
'Torch', A. litvinovii, A. convallaroides, A. chloranthum, and A. sieheanum.

Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States
antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5
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