Coastal Onion

(Allium dichalmydeum)
 
COASTAL ONION
Coastal Onion in serpentine grasslands near Inspiration Point.
Will Elder, NPS
 

Origin Of Genus Name: Allium is Latin for "garlic."

Presidio Locations: Serpentine bluffs and serpentine grasslands.

Range In State: Northern California to Northern central coast.

Description: This native perennial species has long cylindrical leaves and re-sprouts from an underground bulb each year. Deep red-purple flowers are clustered in groups of 5-30. Blooms April to June.

Native Californian Uses: The greens and bulbs were eaten raw or cooked by the Pomo and the Kashaya.

Wildflower main page

Did You Know?

Jonathan Letterman

Major Jonathan Letterman--after whom the hospital at the Presidio was renamed in 1911--was the medical director of the Army of the Potomac. A founding father of military medicine, Letterman organized forward first-aid stations, mobile field hospitals, and ambulance services during the Civil War.