Allium canadense var. canadense

Native

Dry, moderate moisture, or wet. Prairies, open woods. Full sun.

May to June

White or pink

8″ to 24″

This is an erect, perennial, forb rising from 1 to 4, sometimes more, clustered bulbs.

The bulbs are ½″ to 1″ tall, ⅜″ to ¾″ wide, and oval or egg-shaped. They are encased in a dense network of brown, crisscrossed fibers. They have no bulbels. They gradually taper to the stem. They have a strong onion odor.

A single flowering stem (scape), 8″ to 24″ tall, with 3 to 6 leaves, is produced..

The leaves are basally sheathing, attached only in the lower quarter or third of the stem—they do not ascend the stem. They are grass-like and flat, 6″ to 16″ long and less than ¼″ wide. The leaves remain green after the flowers are fully formed.

The inflorescence is a single umbrella-like cluster at the top of the scape. The cluster is shaped like half of a sphere. It has 0 to 60 flowers. There are usually 3, sometimes 4, large bracts (spathe) at the base of the cluster.

The flowers are ½″ wide and bell-shaped. They are composed of 6 white or pink tepals (3 petals and 3 sepals that are similar in appearance). They are on ¼″ to 1″ long flower stalks, the inner ones on shorter stalks, the outer ones on longer stalks, like an umbrella. Many or all of the flowers are replaced by egg-shaped, ¼″ long, stalkless bulblets.

A fruit is rarely produced. The fruit is a shiny seed capsule.

The bulblets in the inflorescence are enough to distinguish this plant from any other Allium species that occurs in Minnesota.

Field garlic (Allium vineale), an introduced species, also has bulblets in the inflorescence. However the leaves are round and ascend the stem. It does not occur in Minnesota.

Nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum var. cernuum) blooms much later, July to September. The scape nods near the top. There are no bulblets in the inflorescence. The flowers are ¼″ wide.

Prairie onion (Allium stellatum) blooms much later, July to September. The scape nods near the top when the flowers are in bud but becomes erect by the time the flowers are fully open. There are no bulblets in the inflorescence. The flowers are star-shaped.

Textile onion (Allium textile) is a shorter plant, reacing only 4″ to 12″ at maturity. It has only 1 or 2 basal leaves. The leaves are half-round, more or less straight, and solid, with a wide, rounded channel running the length of the blade. The tepals are white, only rarely pink, and have distinct red or reddish-brown midribs.