Flowering Chinese Chives

Other names

Fragrant-Flowered Garlic, Branching Chives

Growth habit

Geophyte

Perennation

Long-lived polycarpic perennial

Native distribution

Central Asia

Biocultural value

Leaves have a mild onion flavor.

Location

Robison Herb Garden

Source of plant

Alfred L. Boerner Botanical Gardens

Description

Bulbs elongate, on a stout rhizome, outer bulb coat fibrous-netted; scape to 20"; leaves 4 to 9, slightlyhollow, convex on the back, 1/8" to 5/16" wide, shorter than the scape; umbel many-flowered, pedicels 2 to 3 times as long as the flowers. Flowers fragrant, perianth segments white with red nerve, 1/4" to 3/8"long, filaments about half as long as the segments; ovary without nectaries; capsule ovate, widest at thebase. Flowering period in cultivation is early summer.

USDA Hardiness Zone

5

Special characteristics

fragrance, other ethnobotanical uses, food