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Meadow garlic

Allium canadense

Also called Meadow onion, Wild Onion, Canadian Garlic, Wild garlic, Canada Onion, Canada Garlic, Canada Wild Onion

Meadow garlic
Photo: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0

Meadow garlic is a native North American perennial onion with an edible bulb and grass-like leaves, grown as an ornamental and culinary herb. It is easy to grow in full sun in well-drained soil and is hardy in cool temperate climates.

Family
Amaryllidaceae (Daffodil & onion family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly during spring growth and let the top of the soil dry slightly between waterings.
Soil
Moist but well-drained loam; tolerates a range of soil types.
Temperature
Hardy in cold temperate climates; tolerates winter frost well.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
E. Canada to C. & E. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate

About

Allium canadense, the Canada onion, Canadian garlic, wild garlic, meadow garlic and wild onion is a perennial plant native to eastern North America from Texas to Florida to New Brunswick to Montana. The species is also cultivated in other regions as an ornamental and as a garden culinary herb. The plant is also reportedly naturalized in Cuba.

Uses

The Canada onion is cultivated as a vegetable in home gardens in Cuba, scattered locally in the south to western parts of the island. It was formerly collected from the wild to be eaten by Native Americans and by European settlers. People in the Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation continue the tradition of picking and cooking wild onions in early spring. Various Native American tribes also used the plant for other purposes: for example, rubbing the plant on the body for protection from insect, lizard, scorpion, and tarantula bites.

Other Allium plants

South Idaho onion · Abrams' allium · Allium aciphyllum · Tapertip onion · Allium aeginiense · Allium aflatunense · Allium agrigentinum · Allium alabasicum · Allium albotunicatum · Allium alibile · Altai Onion · Allium altissimum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Allium canadense by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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