allium tuncelianum

Allium tuncelianum is a species of wild onion which is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey. It has a garlic odor and taste and is used locally like garlic. Its common names include Tunceli garlic and Ovacik garlic. Botanists have suggested this species may be a close relative of garlic, and perhaps an ancestor of garlic, but genetic analysis shows that it is actually more closely related to leek. The plant is collected from the wild for use in cooking, a phenomenon that threatens ...