[1][5][6][7][8] Allium ochotense grows to 20–30 cm (8–12 in) in height,[9] with a strong garlic-like odor,[9] and has "bulbs.. surrounded by a grayish-brown, netlike coating.

[10] The plant is slow-growing, and aside from seed-propagation, "A. victorialis has two vegetative propagation systems; one is tillering and the other is adventitious buds".

[12] The specific epithet, ochotense, was given by Yarosláv Ivánovich Prokhánov (Яросла́в Ива́нович Проха́нов) [1902-1965], a Soviet botanist, systematist, geographer, geneticist, Doctor of Biological Science, and professor.

The range also includes Korea, in Ulleung Island and the high mountains (over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft)) in the Korean peninsula, including Baekdu Mountain,[14] and Japan (Hokkaido and Honshu), in colonies from Hokkaido down to the Kinki area (Nara Prefecture[9]), in coniferous and mixed forested wetlands in subalpine terrain.

At Utsunomiya University's Agriculture Department, the research group led by then-assistant professor Nobuaki Fujishige developed an A. ochotense × A. tuberosum (garlic chives) hybrid, which they dubbed gyōjana (行者菜).

One source only mentions that the Jiarongic minority harvest the "tender unfolding leaves" which they sun-dry and serve on special occasions.

In the Ainu language it is called pukusa,[22][23] kitobiru,[23] or ( since "biru/hiru" is a Japanese word for onion-type plants), simply kito.

[14] The leaves and the scaly bulb of myeongi are most often eaten as a namul-type side dish, or as a ssam vegetable for a samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) meal.

Myeongi is also eaten pickled as a jangajji-type side dish, or used as the last ingredient in dak-gomtang ("chicken bone soup").

[14] In Japan, Ainu folklore held that due to its odor, Siberian onion was capable of repelling diseases.

When an epidemic broke out, the onion would be left hanging at the entrances to the village or dangled from the eaves of each house.