Allium tricoccum

Native

Moist. Rich woods. Dappled sunlight.

May to July

White to cream

4″ to 12″

This is a 4″ to 12″ tall, erect, perennial, forb rising from 2 to 6 clustered bulbs. All parts of the plant, including the flower, have a strong onion odor.

The bulbs are ⅔″ to 2⅓″ tall and ⅔″ to 1⅛″ wide, but usually more than 1½″ tall and more than ¾″ wide. They are egg-shaped to cone-shaped. They are encased in a brownish or grayish membranous coating.

Two to three basal leaves arise tightly rolled together at the soil surface. Later they spread, forming a basal rosette. They are 8″ to 12″ long, 1″ to 3″ wide, solid, flat, and untoothed. They are either lance-shaped, tapering to a point at the tip and tapering gradually to the stalk at the base, to narrowly oval, widest at the middle and narrower at the two equal ends. They are on ¾″ to 2⅓″ long, distinct, slender, reddish leaf stalks. The leaves die back before the flower is fully expanded and functioning.

A single, leafless, hairless, round flowering stem (scape) rises 10″ to 14″ from the center of the rosette of leaves. It is curved or bent slightly toward the top, somewhat zigzagged.

The inflorescence is a single umbrella-like flowering cluster (umbel) at the top of the scape. The cluster is 1¼″ in diameter, erect, and shaped like half of a sphere. It has 30 to 50 flowers and no bulblets. There are two large bracts (spathe), ½″ to 1⅛″ long, at the base of the cluster. The spathe surrounds and enclose the cluster and is split on one side. It does not fall off but remains even as the fruits develop.

The flowers are ¼″ long and bell-shaped. They are composed of 6 white to cream tepals (3 petals and 3 sepals that are similar in appearance). The tepals are erect and have blunt tips. They remain on the plant even as the fruit develops. They are on ⅜″ to ¾″ long flower stalks, the inner ones on shorter stalks, the outer ones on longer stalks, like an umbrella.

The fruits form a small ball-like cluster at the top of the stem. The fruit is a shiny 3-celled seed capsule, each cell containing 1 seed (the scientific name tricoccum is Latin for three-seeded).

This species is distinguished from other Allium species by the leaves that disappear by flowering time. The leaves are also wider than those of any other Allium species in Minnesota.

Narrow-leaved wild leek (Allium burdickii), as its common name indicates, has narrower leaves, ¾″ to 1¼″ wide. They are nearly stalkless or on much shorter leaf stalks, and the stalks are green, not reddish. The bulbs are shorter, ¾″ to 1½″ tall. The scape is much shorter, 5″ to 6¼″ tall. The spathe bracts are smaller, ⅜″ to ¾″ long. The umbel has 12 to 18 individual flowers.

Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) has similar leaves but they are shorter, 6″ to 9″, and much wider, 1″ to 5″ wide. The inflorescence is a loose, elongated clusted of nodding flowers.