Allium fibrillum
Cuddy Mountain onion
Family AmaryllidaceaeAlso called Blue Mountain onion
About
Allium fibrillum is a small white-flowered wild onion of mountaintops and scablands in the inland north-western United States.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Allium species are toxic to cats and dogs; eating large amounts can cause hemolytic anemia, and cats are most sensitive. General guidance for the genus
- People
- Low toxicity; eating large quantities may cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. General guidance for the genus
- Light
- Full sun to light shade. General guidance for the genus
- Water
- Avoid overly damp ground; wet conditions invite bulb rot and other fungal problems. General guidance for the genus
- Soil
- Fertile, loose, well-drained soil; sand or loam both suit. General guidance for the genus
- Propagation
- Spreads by seed and by new shoots from the bulb.
- Mature size
- Flower stalk up to 15 cm; leaves up to 24 cm long.
“General guidance for the genus” marks advice sourced for the genus as a whole rather than this species.
Field notes
Morphology
One or a few rounded bulbs about 1.2 cm long bear two flat, linear leaves up to 24 cm long that begin withering from the tip by flowering time. A stalk up to 15 cm carries 10–20 bell-shaped white flowers with green or pink midribs; the fruit is a capsule.
Distribution & habitat
Eastern Washington and Oregon through Idaho to Montana, on mountaintops and scablands in sagebrush, shrub-steppe and grassland.
Ecology
Reproduces by seed and by sprouting from its bulb.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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