Allium triquetrum

Allium triquetrum

Garlic triquetrum (Allium triquetrum L.) is a plant of the Liliaceae family, spread in the Mediterranean basin also called the vulgar names with the terms garlic, garlic triangle, garlic, leek.

Systematic –
From a systematic point of view it belongs to the Eukaryota Domain, Kingdom Plantae, Spermatophyta Superdivision, Magnoliophyta Division, Liliopsida Class, Liliidae Subclass, Liliales Order, Liliaceae Family, and then Genre Allium and Species A. triquetrum.

Etymology –
The term Allium comes from the name by which the Romans called this plant, which in turn comes from a Celtic word that means hot. The specific name triquetrum is related to the shape of the trigon stem.

Geographic Distribution and Habitat –
Allium triquetrum is spread in the western Mediterranean basin (western Mediterranean basin, Liguria, Spain and Algeria) and in the area of ​​growth and cultivation of the olive tree. In Italy it is present in the south-central part of the peninsula and in the major islands. Usually grows in humid and shady places, forests, hedges, edges and slopes from 0 to 600 m altitude.

Description –
The Allium triquetrum is a perennial plant with strips of length approximately as wide as the stem and 5-10 mm wide.
It is a persistent weed grass that forms dense colonies. It grows from an ovoid bulb with stems that grow from 10-40 cm.
The flowers, pendulum and bell-shaped, have white-colored petals with a green median streak; Flowers from March to May. Scented and hermaphroditic flowers, ranging from 3 to 15, carried by peduncles of 1-4 cm, are gathered at the top of the scapo in umbrella lashed and asymmetrical and wrapped by a green bivalve spit, which slits and opens, becoming White to bloom; They are first erected and pendulum in one direction, they are bell-shaped, they are 18 mm long and have 6 pointed white petal-shaped teaspoons with a green median streak and the stamens enclosed within the flower are half the perigonian long. The Ovar is over. The fruit is a capsule.

Cultivation –
Cultivation of the Allium is very simple, and must take place in a sunny place, bulbs fit to stay in the soil even in the coldest months because they do not fear the low temperatures. You can also grow garlic in pots. In this case it is good to opt for large and deep containers especially for large species. The Allium should be placed in full sun, during autumn at a depth that measures twice the size of the bubo. The bulb, with root underneath and tip over, must be covered with a soil that is not clayey and then must be watered. Once it is buried it can be left until the spring when it starts to tick the part of the leaves and then the stem and the flower.
Allium is satisfied with rain and frost but during the flowering period it is good to water the plant especially if dry periods occur.
It grows in any soil as long as it is well drained, however it is best to avoid too compact and excessively wet soils.
In the case of nectarine plants, pollination is ensured in particular by bees and wasps. Fertilization occurs both through the pollination of the flowers and by the division of the foot (typically horticultural propagation), and through the adventurous gems placed both in the inflorescence area and underground bulbs. Multiplication can be done in the autumn or spring by bulb extraction and bulb splitting around the main bulb. The bulbs must, after division, be replanted in the soil and watered.
As far as pests and diseases are concerned, these are very resistant rustic plants. In addition, the parasites seem to dislike the aroma of these plants.

Uses and Traditions –
Allium’s genus plays a major role in nutrition: garlic, onion, leek and other products that have a great use in cooking. Its cultivation for food use has a long history, with documentation, for over three thousand years BC. As far as the ornamental use of Allium is concerned, it is the centuries that document its use. In the cultivated meadows some Allium species can give unpleasant taste to the milk of the animals that eat them, so it goes out.
Like most Allium, Allium triquetrum contains an antibiotic: allicin, which gives it hypotensive, antibiotic, disinfectant, and hypoglycaemic properties. Recent research also indicates that it has beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease. Among other things, it is part of numerous repellents.
In the kitchen both the bun and the small bulbs were consumed raw in the past as a salad, or used to flavor legume soups.
Knowledge of garlic, and therefore of wilder forms such as the Allium triquetrum, is very ancient. It is known that 5000 years ago the Egyptians estimated it to use it to buy a male and healthy slave by paying it with about 7 kilos of garlic, which was also part of the feeding of the workers who worked on the construction of the pyramid of Cheope (2500 BC) To increase their vigor.
Among the virtues of the Allium described in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance we find that: “hunting out the body of worms wide, causing the urine, good at the bites of the vipers, it is useful to the hydrops, clarifies the voice, relieves the cough Old, laughing at lice, solves bruises, recreates hair cascading by pelagic “(Mattioli, 1544).

Methods of Preparation –
There are many parts of the plant that are edible, flowers, leaves and roots. The small bulb bulb is up to 20 mm in diameter is eaten – raw or cooked. It has a light garlic flavor and can be used as aromatization in salads and cooked foods. It is harvested early summer, when the plant is dead and preserved for at least 6 months. The leaves are eaten raw or cooked as a substitute for leeks. The leaves are available from late autumn until spring, they are nice in salads when they are young, or cooked as vegetables or flavorings when they grow old. The leaves have a more delicate and delicate flavor than the onions. The flowers are eaten raw and juicy with a light flavor of garlic; They have a tasty flavor and decorative function on salads.
With the Allium triquetrum you can prepare interesting dishes, see some of them:
Fresh rustic salad –
You can prepare the salad with the fresh vegetables available, add some wild garlic leaves crushed and mix everything with oil, vinegar, salt and lemon. The salad will acquire a very strong flavor of garlic and a different taste of the usual salad.
Rustic homemade salad –
After preparing potatoes, boiled beans and onions, except to prepare the finely cut wild garlic to be mixed together with the aforesaid vegetables and seasoned with oil, salt and vinegar. It is a homemade salad, which is indicated as a kiln of baked meats. You can also add pickled garlic bulbs to pleasure.
Wild Garlic Frittata –
You can prepare a mixture of stems of wild garlic and flowering inflorescences, as well as, if available, bulbs that are slightly shredded to the point of being indoors. Apart from preparing the eggs with a bit of cheese and molli, mix with the previous fried and pour into a pan with boiling oil. Feed them from the sides and serve them warm. The taste of the omelette will be a taste sweet enough, but tasty.
Wild garlic pickles –
Having about 500 grams of wild garlic bulbs available, they are cleaned out of the outside and rather crispy and left for about 2 hours in salt water.
Then boiling the bulbs previously prepared in water and vinegar in the proportion of 200 ml. Of vinegar in 1,000 ml. Of water for about 30 minutes, let it dry in a cloth for about 12 hours and put in a glass jar to be filled with oil. After about a month they are good for consumption, such as starters.

Warning: Sometimes there have been cases of poisoning caused by its consumption in very large quantities and for some mammals, some members of this genus. Dogs seem particularly susceptible.

Guido Bissanti

Sources
– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
– Treben M., 2000. The Health of the Lord’s Pharmacy, Tips and Experiences with Medicinal Herbs, Ennsthaler Publisher
– Pignatti S., 1982. Flora d’Italia, Edagricole, Bologna.
– Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A., Blasi C. (eds.), 2005. An annotated checklist of the Italian vascular flora, Palombi Editore.

Attention: Pharmaceutical applications and surgical uses are indicated for information purposes only; they do not represent any prescription of a medical type; Therefore, no responsibility for their use for any curative, aesthetic or food use is considered.