Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Wild Onion is a native perennial forb growing to 1-1/2 feet high to the top of the erect flowering stem.

The leaves are all basal and form a rosette, rising in a vase shape before bending outward and downward. Leaves are linear, with parallel veins, flat, solid, with a center raised ridge. They are slightly shorter than the flower stalk and have a basal sheath, which is usually not seen above ground level. They dry up after flowering time.

The inflorescence is an umbel of numerous (9 to 40) stalked flowers. The umbel, 2 to 3 inches wide, is atop a round smooth greenish scape (a flowering stem that arises directly from the roots). The entire flower head may nod in the bud stage as the top of scape bends over, but it then becomes erect at flowering unlike Allium cernuum which remains nodding with the flowers opening downward. The base of the umbel has two thin lanceolate shaped bracts.

The flowers are pinkish or whitish-pink, to even purplish is strong sunlight, small and hemisphere shaped, 6-parted, about 1/4 inch long with three sepals and three petals combined to form six tepals. The margins of the 3 outer tepals are incurved but all six are spreading creating a star-like shape, not a bell shape. There are six exserted stamens that have pink filaments and yellowish anthers. The single style is about as long as the stamens and has a blunt but scarcely thickened tip. The 3-sectioned ovary is greenish and has a conspicuous crest.

Fruit: The flowers produce a 3-chambered seed capsule, not bulblets. The capsule elongates and eventually exposes three roundish black seeds that can have a dull surface. These are usually wind dispersed. Seeds require 60 days of cold stratification for germination.

Habitat: Wild Onion grows from an ovoid shaped bulb and finer fibrous roots. Bulbs are usually clustered in groups of 1 to 5+. There usually is some grayish or brownish membranous material attached to the outside of the bulb. Both the leaves and the bulb are considered edible, but much stronger of flavor than garden onions. The Chippewa word for the plant meant "prairie skunk plant" referring to the odor. The plant prefers full sun and dry conditions with well drained soils - mesic to dry moisture conditions. The fibrous roots go somewhat deep, so dig deeply if moving the plants. In dense areas it is best on the edges as it may not compete with more aggressive plants.

Names: The genus, Allium, is Latin for garlic. The base word of the species name, stellatum, means 'starry' referring to the open flower shape. The author names for the plant classification are a bit complex. First to publish was 'Fraser’ who was John Fraser (1750-1811) Scottish botanist who collected specimens from North America and the West Indies which he exported back to Europe. He was a commissioned plant collector for the Czarina Catherine of Russia. His work was amended by ‘Ker Gaul.’ who was John Bellenden Ker Gawler (1764?-1842), English botanist who published several botanical works and edited Edward’s Botanical Register from 1815 to 1824.

All older references will list this species in the Lily Family (Liliaceae). Some botanists has created a new family specifically for the New World Allium. Some others have included a few Old World Allium in the new family and some have only included a portion of the New World Species. This family arrangement is still in flux, although the Minnesota Authorities at the U of M Herbarium have adopted the new family name for the 7 New World Allium. Flora of North America has noted the many proposals but not yet published them.

Comparisons: Of the native Alliums with similar flowers two can be compared. First is Wild Garlic, Allium canadense, but only likely to be confused before flowering. Unlike the other wild onions, the inflorescence develops small bulblets. Also, the leaf sheaths are above ground and the leaves are broad. The most confusing species will be Nodding Wild Onion, A. cernuum, but there the flower umbel is always nodding when in flower and the tepals (pointing downward) form a bell shape, not a star shape. Also, the root bulb is more elongate.