| Synonyms: | |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Introduced |
| Description: |
Perennial herbs or subshrubs, 30-200 cm tall, with a strong oniol-like smell. Stipules filiform, 2-4 mm long. Leaves simple, obovate-elliptic or oblong, 5-14 cm long, rarely longer, sparsely puberulous; veins whitish on the undersurface; margin entire; petiole 4-20 mm long. Inflorescences terminal or axillary in spicate racemes, 8-25 cm long, rarely longer; peduncle 1-4 cm long; bracts ovate, c. 2 mm long. Flowers on pecicels 0.5-2 mm long; bracteoles c. 1 mm long; sepals narrowly ovate-elliptic or linear-oblong, 3-4 mm long, white, greenish or pinkish; stamens generally 8; ovary ellipsoid, hair. Fruit subtended by the persistent remains of the perianth, an achene, bilobed at the apex, crowned by 4-6 strongly reflexed hookes spines, 1-seeded. |
| Type location: |
Jamaica. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | alliacea: onion-like, referring to the smell. |
| Habitat: | Cultivated mainly in botanical gardens where it has become naturalized. |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 300 - 400 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Native in subtropical and tropical America from Texas and Florida to Argentina. Introduced in Asia and Africa, notably in Nigeria and Benin as well as sporadically in DR Congo. |
| Botanical divisions: | V,VI |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Meerts, P. (2025). Petiveriaceae Flore d'Afrique Centrale Nouvelle Serie Jardin Botanique Meise, Belgique Pages 6 - 8. (Includes a picture). |