Allium are bulbous herbaceous perennials with a strong onion or garlic scent, linear, strap-shaped or cylindrical basal leaves and star-shaped or bell-shaped flowers in an umbel on a leafless stem
A. cristophii is a perennial to 50cm, with strap-shaped, slightly glaucous leaves withering by flowering time. Star-shaped, rosy-violet flowers are borne in globose heads to 20cm in width in early summer are followed by attractive seed-heads