Allium ampeloprasum L. in Illinois

In the winter of 1963 while some herbarium work was being done at the Chicago Natural History Museum, a specimen of Allium was observed which had been identified by the collectors as A. vineale L. The length of the pedicels, the absence of bulbils in the inflorescence, and the number of flowers in the inflorescence were unlike those characteristics of A. vineale, and a closer look at this specimen revealed that its true identity was A. ampeloprasum. In this specimen, the leaves were one centimeter or more wide and flattened, while in A. vineale, the leaves are terete and hollow with their width rarely exceeding half a centimeter even in robust specimens. This sheet was, therefore, annotated with the proper identification.