Chinese garlic is a wild onion relative from East Asia, grown for its edible bulbs and leaves in temperate gardens. It is hardy and easy, but needs full sun and well-drained soil.
Family
Amaryllidaceae (Daffodil & onion family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while leaves are growing in spring, then keep the soil dry while the bulb rests in summer.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile garden soil or loam
Temperature
5–25 °C; hardy to about -20 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Russian Far East to China and Nansei-shotō
Climate
temperate
About
Allium macrostemon (野蒜, ノビル), Japanese wild onion, Spring onion, Green onion, Chinese garlic, Japanese garlic or long-stamen onion, is a species of wild onion widespread across much of East Asia. It is known from many parts of China, as well as Japan (incl Ryukyu Islands), Korea, Mongolia, Tibet and Primorye. It has been collected from elevations ranging from sea level to 3000 m.
Allium macrostemon produces one round bulb up to 2 cm in diameter. Scape is up to 70 cm tall. Leaves are shorter than the scape, long and hollow, round or triangular in cross-section. Umbel is large and crowded with many pale red or pale purple flowers.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Allium macrostemon by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.