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Allium cernuum
Also called Lady's leek, Nodding pink onion, Nodding Wild Onion, Wild Onion
Nodding onion is a small perennial wild onion native to North America, grown from a bulb and prized for its drooping pink or white flower heads. It does best in full sun with sharp drainage, and it is an easy native for meadows and rock gardens.
Allium cernuum, known as nodding onion or lady's leek, is a perennial plant in the genus Allium. It grows in open areas in North America and is indigenous to Chicago. Some say it's where Chicago get's it's name.
The species has been reported from much of the United States, Canada and Mexico including in the Appalachian Mountains from Alabama to New York State, the Great Lakes Region, the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys, the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri, and the Rocky and Cascade Mountains of the West, from Mexico to Washington. It has not been reported from California, Nevada, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Delaware, New England, or much of the Great Plains. In Canada, it grows from Ontario to British Columbia.
A. cernuum is edible raw and has a strong onion flavor. It can be cooked in stews, but it is not widely used in modern cuisine.
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 cernuum 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.
