Allium sativum
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Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Garlic has been used throughout history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The garlic plant's bulb is the most commonly used part of the plant.
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- Species identity and nomenclature
- Current Wikipedia entry
- Binomial Classification
- Morphological features
- Habitat and Geographical Spread
- Maps
- Medicinal Importance
- Cultural significance
- Commercial importance and cultivation
- Summary of PubMed articles
- Summary of NCBI molecular data
- External Links
- Images and Videos
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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Names of users who have contributed to this species page | Gauravm | |
Date on which this page was first created | 2010/12/05 | |
This page was last modified on: | 14 December 2010 18:18:59 | |
Name of the species | Allium sativum | |
ID on Encyclopedia of Life | 1084926 | |
Synonyms | Please check Binomial Classification section for synonyms. | |
Common English Names | Cultivated Garlic | |
Common Hindi Names | लेह्सन Lehsan | |
Common Indian names | लेह्सन Lehsan (Hindi); लसूण Lasun (Marathi); Lehsan (Gujarati); Naharu (Assamese); Rasun (Bengali) | EoL |
Origins/Meanings of the common names | The ancestry of cultivated garlic is not definitely established: according to Zohary and Hopf "A difficulty in the identification of its wild progenitor is the sterility of the cultivars", though it is thought be descendent from the species Allium longicuspis, which grows wild in central and southwestern Asia. Allium sativum grow in the wild in areas where it has become naturalised. The "wild garlic", "crow garlic", and "field garlic" of Britain are members of the species Allium ursinum, Allium vineale, and Allium oleraceum, respectively. In North America, Allium vineale (known as "wild garlic" or "crow garlic") and Allium canadense, known as "meadow garlic" or "wild garlic" and "wild onion", are common weeds in fields. One of the best-known "garlics", the so-called elephant garlic, is actually a wild leek (Allium ampeloprasum), and not a true garlic. Single clove garlic (also called Pearl garlic or Solo garlic) also exists, originating in the Yunnan province of China. | Wikipedia |
Taxonomy from Encyclopedia of Life
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Taxonomy filled in form

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Taxon | Value |
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Regnum (Kingdom) | Plantae |
Division | Magnoliophyta |
Class | Liliopsida |
Order | Asparagales |
Family | Amaryllidaceae |
Genus | Allium |
Source of data | Encyclopedia of Life |
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Division | Taxon details | Taxon morphology details |
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Magnoliophyta | Also called Angiospermae. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms around 245–202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants known to exist are from 140 million years ago. They diversified enormously during the Lower Cretaceous and became widespread around 100 million years ago, but replaced conifers as the dominant trees only around 60-100 million years ago. | These are seed plants like Gymnosperms, but can be differentiated by the presence of flowers, seeds containing endosperm and seeds that produce a fruit. Angiosperms are the most diverse and highly evolutionarily successful group of land plants. |
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Class | Taxon details | Taxon morphology details |
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Liliopsida | Liliopsida is considered the scientific name for monocots, but monocots may be called differently based on different taxonomic classification systems. Based on chloroplast DNA sequences, the divergence date between monocots and dicots is estimated to be ~200 million years, with a 40 million years uncertainty. There are ~50000-60000 species of monocots, with the largest family being Orchidaceae (orchids) consisting of ~20000 species. The true grasses (Poaceae) are the most economically important family, with 70% of the crops being cultivated belonging to this family. | The following features distinguish monocots from dicots - 1) Three flower parts in each flower (vs 4-5 in dicots) 2) One pore in pollen (vs 3) 3) One cotyledon (vs 2) 4) Vascular bundles in stem scattered (vs concentric circles) 5) Adventitious roots (vs radicle-origin) 6) Parallel venation (vs reticulate) These broad distinguishing features indeed have some exceptions |
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Based on classification
More details can be found in the Binomial Classification section.
Morphology from Encyclopedia of Life
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General morphology
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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General morphological features of the plant |
Seed dispersal mechanism | ||
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Bloom type | ||
Life cycle of the plant |
How to identify this species
For a detailed description, refer to the General Morphology details above
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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Type of plant | ||
Plant height | ||
Flower color | ||
Flower shape | ||
Floral symmetry | ||
Phyllotaxy of leaves | ||
Leaf shape | ||
Is the leaf petiolated or sessile? | ||
Is the leaf simple or compound? |
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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IUCN Conservation Status | ||
Indian States in which the species has been documented | ||
Locations at which the species has been documented | ||
Biotic zones inhabited | ||
Details about the habitat | ||
Is this species native to India? | Yes | |
Is the species indigenous/endemic to Sub-Himalayan regions? | ||
Is the species indigenous/endemic to Western Ghats? | ||
Is the species indigenous/endemic to Eastern Ghats? |
More plants native to India
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Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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Does this species have any medicinal use? | Yes |
Other plants of the same family having medicinal use:
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Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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General types of ailments this species is used for treating | Infectious diseases, Pains and Inflammation, Common ailments, Systemic disorders, Cancer | |
Specific ailments for which the species is used | ||
Medicinal systems which use this plant | Ayurveda, Unani, Folk Medicine, Modern Medicine | |
Details of Medicinal use | ||
Parts of the plant used for treatment | ||
Names of some medicinal active compounds in this plant, if known. | ||
Details of the active chemical compounds found in this plant | ||
Is the molecular basis of the medicinal action known? | ||
Details of molecular basis of action | ||
Are the toxic effects of consumption of this plant known? | ||
Details of the toxic effects of the plant species | ||
Have there been validation/clinical studies related to this plant? | ||
Details of the clinical studies related to the plant species |
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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Is this plant/plant-derived product used in food preparations? | Yes | User-reported |
Part(s) of the plant used in the food preparations | Rhizomes, Fruit | |
Details of use in food preparations | ||
Does this species have any religious significance? | Yes | User-reported |
Religions which mention/give significance to this species | Hinduism | |
Religious occasions | ||
Details of religious use |
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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Is this plant cultivated commercially in India? | Yes | |
Uses for which the plant is commercially cultivated | Human consumption, Medicinal use, Cosmetic use | |
Plant parts of commercial value | Fruit | |
Products where this plant is used | User-reported | |
Description of use | ||
States where this plant is cultivated commercially | ||
Best period for planting this plant | ||
Best period for harvesting this plant | ||
Method of propagation | ||
Water requirement of this plant | ||
Pests and Diseases affecting this plant during cultivation | ||
Other considerations while cultivating this plant |
Pubmed Word cloud
This word cloud is obtained using the tool LigerCat by searching the Pubmed database. LigerCat builds the cloud from the most relevant Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms. Each term's relative size indicates how many times it appears in the PubMed search results. Click on a term to access the full LigerCat cloud, with live PubMed search capabilities. LigerCat has been developed for the Biology of Aging Project.
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- If there is an error message below, it means that there is no retrievable information available on NCBI
- If the number of nucleotide sequences is less than 100, very little genomic work has been done on this species. A respectable number of nucleotide sequences is above 10000.
- Most of the nucleotide sequences may come from three sources:
- Studies on single genes, where people try to sequence genes such as some specific dehydrogenases important,say, for tannin production
- Sequences of Ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer, whose sequence is used for generating molecular phylogenetic trees to establish species relationships
- Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) which can tell about which genes are present and expressed in the species at a particular time in the given tissue
{{#queryDB:taxonomy |Allium sativum }}
Parameter | Value(s) | References See complete references in the References section at the end |
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Details of modern scientific knowledge available for this species | ||
Are herbarium specimen available for this species? | ||
Institutes having herbarium samples |
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References
EoL (Web): Encyclopedia of Life entry, Accessdate=2010-12-05
Wikipedi (Web): Wikipedia entry, Accessdate=2010-12-05
{{{refkeyword}}} (Web): Allium sativum medicial value, Accessdate=2010-Dec-14
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