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Nodding
Onion
Allium cernuum Roth
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Family: Liliaceae,
Lily
Genus: Allium
Description
General: perennial, onion-smelling, the stem 10-50 cm tall,
round or flattened, curved down near the top, sometimes 2
or more successively produced from a single bulb. Bulbs
1-2 cm thick, usually in clusters, with membranous outer
layers with parallel fibres.
 Leaves: basal, several per bulb, plane or concave-convex
in cross section, 1-6 mm broad, shorter than the flower
stem, entire or small-toothed on the edges, green during
flowering, persistent at maturity.
 Flowers: several in a nodding umbel, the surrounding,
membranous bract soon dropped. Stalks slender, 2-3 times
the flower length, in fruit becoming stouter, elongating, and
bending upward. Tepals 4-6 mm long, elliptic-ovate, blunt,
entire or nearly so, pink or white, withering in fruit, the
midribs not thickened. Stamens projecting, anthers oblong.
Ovary crested with 6 distinct, flattened processes, the style
thread-like, projecting, stigma round, entire.
Flowering time: June-July.
 Fruits: capsules, 3-lobed, with 6 crests at tip, about 4
mm long. Seeds dull black, with honey-comb pattern.
Distribution
Widely distributed in moist to dry, open sites, plains to
montane zone, in w., c. and s.e. parts of MT. Also from
B.C. to WA, OR, ID, and to GA and Mexico.
 Edible and Medicinal plant, see below. |
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(click on image for full size)
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(click on images for full size)
Edible Uses:
Nodding onion is edible, and its bulbs were
widely eaten by native peoples and European settlers, either raw,
cooked or dried for winter. Being strongly flavored, it is mainly used as a flavoring. Cooking removes the strong smell and
flavor, converting the sugar inulin to the more digestible fructose,
and the bulbs become very sweet. The leaves are edible, raw or cooked. They have a delicious, strong-onion flavor, and are said to be very nice in salads.
The flowers can be eaten raw or cooked. They have a delicious strong onion flavor, somewhat stronger than the leaves especially if the seeds are starting to set. They make a very decorative and tasty addition to the salad bowl.
Medicinal Uses:
The whole plant has mild medicinal activity similar to the action of garlic (Allium sativum). It is used specifically as a poultice on the chest for the treatment of respiratory ailments and the juice has been used in the treatment of kidney stones. The juice of the plant is used in treating colds, croup, sore throats etc. A poultice of the plant is applied externally to various infections such as sore throats, sores, swellings, chest and pleurisy pains.
Other Uses:
The juice of the plant is used as a moth repellent. The whole plant is said to repel insects and moles. The juice can be applied to exposed skin in order to repel biting insects. |
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