Unravelling the taxonomic identity of Kashmiri shallot ‘Pran’: A probable co-existence of multiple species

Kashmiri Pran is a well-known shallot of North Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir. A traditional and underutilized crop, it is gaining popularity due to its volatile biochemical composition and international demand. Gearing up for improved trait breeding and export, Pran needs to be systematically classified first. Also, its conservation is necessary to avoid species extinction in the region, as growers are exceedingly disinterested in growing it commercially against onion and other mainstream crops. Pran is popularly known as a triploid viviparous shallot and most recently being named Allium x cornutum Clementi ex Visiani. However, this naming is by virtue of more or less indirect studies or on the basis of fewer accessions not covering all of the diversity of Pran that exists, which critically necessitates a directed approach to solving the problem of Pran ’s systematics. The reported work is a more comprehensive and inclusive study aimed directly at ascertaining species identity of Pran. Tools like morphological/ botanical descriptors, cytometry and molecular approaches were employed for the detailed study. Many important observations point to the existence of more than one species under the umbrella of Pran , specifically Allium x cornutum Clementi ex Visiani, Allium proliferum and Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum .