Early onion facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Early onion |
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Allium hyalinum var. praecox (Brandegee) Jeps. |
Allium praecox is a type of wild onion. It is often called the early onion because it blooms quite early in the year.
Where the Early Onion Grows
This plant grows naturally in the hills and mountains of southern California and Baja California. It likes shady spots with clay soil. You can usually find it up to 800 meters (about 2,600 feet) high.
You can find the early onion in many parts of Southern California. This includes counties like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside. It also grows on some of the Channel Islands.
What the Early Onion Looks Like
The Allium praecox grows from a small bulb. This bulb is brownish or grayish and is about one to two centimeters long.
The plant has a main stem called a scape. This stem is round and can grow up to 60 centimeters (about 2 feet) tall. Each plant usually has two or three long, keeled leaves. These leaves are often as long as the stem, or sometimes even a bit longer.
The flowers grow in a cluster called an umbel. An umbel can have up to 40 flowers. Each flower sits on a long stalk called a pedicel, which can be up to 4 centimeters long. The flowers themselves can be up to 15 millimeters wide.
The flower petals, called tepals, are pink. They have darker purple lines running through them. The parts that hold the pollen, called anthers, can be purple or yellow. The pollen itself is yellow.
