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Early onion

Allium praecox

Early onion
Photo: Anthony Valois and the National Park Service, Public domain

Allium praecox, the early onion, is a small wild onion from southwestern California and northern Baja California, grown from a small bulb. It is a bulbous geophyte that grows in shade on clay soils and is rarely grown in gardens.

Family
Amaryllidaceae (Daffodil & onion family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Part shade, Shade
Water
Water moderately while leaves and flowers are active in spring, then keep dry while the bulb is dormant in summer.
Soil
Heavy clay or loam that drains reasonably well.
Temperature
Hardy to mild frost; grows well in cool to warm temperate conditions, around 5-30 °C.
How easy
Easy
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
SW. California to Mexico (N. Baja California)
Climate
subtropical

About

Allium praecox is a species of wild onion known by the common name early onion.

Where it grows

It is native to the hills and mountains of southern California and Baja California, where it grows in shady areas in clay soils at elevations up to 800 m.

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 praecox 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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