Leek-Allium porrum and Green Onions-Allium fistulosum,its extracts.
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Leek Botanical Description.:
Ampeloprasum var. porrum (L.) J. Gay) is a vegetable belonging, with onion and garlic, to the Alliaceae, the onion family. Also in this species are two very different vegetables: The elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum) grown for its bulbs, and kurrat which is grown for its leaves in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. The leek is also sometimes classified as Allium porrum (L.)
Rather than forming a tight bulb such as the onion, the leek produces a long cylinder of bundled leaf sheaths which are generally blanched by pushing soil around them (trenching). They are often sold as small seedlings in flats which are started early in greenhouses, to be set out as weather permits. Once established in the garden, leeks are hardy; many varieties can be left in the ground during the winter to be harvested as needed.
Leek cultivars can be subdivided in several ways, but the chiefest is "summer leeks", intended for harvest in the season when planted, and overwintering leeks, meant to be harvested in the spring of the year following planting. Summer leek types are generally smaller than overwintering types; overwintering types are generally more strongly flavored.
The leek is a biennial, onion-like plant that is grown as a long season annual for its long, thick, cylindrical stalk, composed of overlapping leaf bases. Leeks don't form bulbs in the manner of many alliums. The leaves are flat, yellow-green or blue-green and up to 3 ft (0.9 m) long. They are arranged fan-like and typically bend down under their own weight about midway up. If left into their second summer, leeks produce showy spherical clusters, 3-4 (7.6-10 cm) in diameter, of purple, pink or white flowers on cylindrical stalks up to 4 ft (1.2 m) tall. Leeks are milder than most onions, and have a distinctive flavor.
There are more than 2 dozen varieties of leeks available from vegetable seed suppliers. 'Musselburgh' (130 days), with thick, short stems, is very cold tolerant and an all time favorite on both sides of the Atlantic. 'Large American Flag' and 'Alaska' (both 125 days) are among the most cold tolerant. 'Titan' matures in only 80 days but is not very cold tolerant. Several French varieties are smaller, with delicate, mild flavors suitable for eating raw.
Description - With stems about 1m high and large pink flower-heads, the Wild Leek is fairly unmistakeable. The heads consist of a ball of bulbils, each capable of growing where it falls. Small pink flowers open around these. Our plants mainly reproduce vegetatively by bulbils, rather than by the seed. Leaves are just like the Leek in your garden, although the stem will not get quite so fat. All parts have a strong onion scent.
Habitat - It prefers sandy, costal soil, but will grow on waste land, or even hedgebanks, further inland.
Comment - First known from the cliffs at Fort George in the 1800s, then started to spread very slowly to Rocquaine, and hedgebanks in St Peters , but in the last 40 years or so has spread dramatically to most parts of the island. Mainly confined to the south-west of England, and west of Ireland. It is thought to be the ancestor of our garden leek, and people in Guernsey have been known to eat it as such.
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- 1.Leek-Allium porrum and Green Onions-Allium fistulosum,its extracts.
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