''Leopoldia comosa'' (syn. ''Muscari comosum'') is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae (), known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. This family includes both ...

. Usually called the tassel hyacinth or tassel grape hyacinth, it is one of a number of species and genera also known as grape hyacinths. It is found in rocky ground and cultivated areas, such as cornfields and vineyards, p. 502 (under the name ''M. comosum'') in the Mediterranean region, but has naturalized elsewhere. In southern Italy and Greece, its bulb is a culinary delicacy.

Description

Described by Oleg Polunin as "a striking plant", it has a tuft of bright blue to violet-blue sterile flowers above brownish-green fertile flowers, which open from dark blue buds, reminiscent of a menorah candelabrum. This tuft gives rise to the name "

tassel A tassel is a finishing feature in fabric and clothing decoration. It is a universal ornament that is seen in varying versions in many cultures around the globe. History and use In the Hebrew Bible, the Lord spoke to Moses instructing him to ...

hyacinth"., p. 130 (under the name ''M. comosum'') The flower stem is 20–60 cm tall; individual flowers are borne on long stalks, purple in the case of the sterile upper flowers. Mature fertile flowers are 5–10 mm long with stalks of this length or more and are bell-shaped, opening at the mouth, where there are paler lobes. The linear leaves are 5–15 mm wide, with a central channel. ''Leopoldia comosa'' naturalizes easily and may become invasive. It has spread northwards from its original distribution, for example appearing in the British Isles in the 16th century. In a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

called 'Monstrosum' or 'Plumosum', all the flowers have become branched purple stems.

Cuisine

During Roman times, Pliny noted that the bulbs were eaten with vinegar, oil, and

garum Garum is a fermentation (food), fermented fish sauce that was used as a condiment in the cuisines of Phoenicia, Ancient Greek cuisine, ancient Greece, Ancient Roman cuisine, Rome, Carthage and later Byzantine cuisine, Byzantium. Liquamen is a si ...

. Today, it is still eaten in some Mediterranean countries. In

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

and

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

, it is cultivated and known as ''lampagioni'' or . In

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

it is called , βολβοί, βροβιοί ''volví, vrovií'' (ασκουρδαλάκοι in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

). In

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and especially on

, it is considered a delicacy and collected in the wild. The cleaned bulbs are boiled several times, pickled, and then kept in

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

. The bulbs of the tassel hyacinth are mentioned in classical Hebrew literature under the name ''bulbūsīn''.

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

''Kil'ayim'' 3:11, ''et al.''

Gallery

Image:Lampascioni.jpg, , made from bulbs of ''Leopoldia comosa'', is a gastronomic specialty of the Italian regions of

and

File:Insalata di lampascioni.jpg, from Basilicata, with scrambled eggs and peperoni cruschi File:Muscari comosum 1.jpg, Leaves of the plant File:Muscari comosum Sturm40.jpg, Illustration from Johann Georg Sturm (Painter: Jacob Sturm) 1796. ''Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen'', plate 40. File:M.c.Plumosum4.JPG, Ornamental cultivar 'Plumosum' File:Muscari_à_toupet_à_Djerba.jpg, Clear flower view, Djerba island, Tunisia

References

External links

Wild Flowers of the British Isles: M comosum

Scilloideae Flora of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Root vegetables {{Asparagaceae-stub