Dwarf garlic

Allium chamaemoly, the dwarf garlic, is a diminutive bulbous perennial herb of the Amaryllidaceae family, native to the western and central Mediterranean basin. Plants arise from a small ovoid underground bulb and produce a low rosette of two to four flat, grass-like, deep green leaves often fringed with long white hairs and pressed close to the ground. The flower-bearing scape is greatly reduced or essentially absent, so the umbel of flowers sits almost at ground level among the leaves. Each umbel carries a few star-shaped white flowers, each tepal usually marked with a purple midvein. The whole plant has a potent garlic scent when bruised. Flowering occurs in winter and early spring, after which the plant dies down to its bulb to escape the hot dry summer typical of its range. Dwarf garlic grows on stony hillsides, sandy soils and open garrigue in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, the Balkans and parts of North Africa, including the major Mediterranean islands.