The genus Allium (Family Alliaceae) comprising both cultivated and wild species is of considerable importance as vegetable, spice or condiments and for medicinal or aromatic value. It comprises some 700 known species of herbaceous nature distributed throughollt the world. Indian Gene Centre is considered to be fairly rich in distribution and occurrence of some 30 cultivated and wild species; among which about 4–5 species are cultivated as major crop or as Ininor kitchen gardcn plant. The brief review deals with the distribution, diversity alld occurrence, particularly of wild Allium species, along-with their distinguishing taxonomical attributcs and potential cconomic uses. The use of in vitro teclmology in the micropropagation for rapid clonal propagation, induction of organogenesis and somatic embn)ogenesis, protoplast culture, and embryo rescue etc. has been reviewed with specific mcntion of status of in vitro research at NPTCR.
