Glassy onion facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Glassy onion |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Allium
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| Species: |
hyalinum
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| Synonyms | |
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Allium hyalinum var. hickmanii Jeps. |
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Meet the glassy onion, a cool type of wild onion that grows in California. Its scientific name is Allium hyalinum, and it's known for its shiny, almost see-through flowers!
This special plant is found only in California! It loves to grow in the Sierra Nevada foothills, which are the lower parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains. You can find it there at elevations from about 160 to 4,900 feet (50 to 1,500 meters). It grows from Kern County all the way up to Butte County. You can also spot it in the Coast Ranges in counties like Lake, Alameda, Santa Clara, Merced, and San Benito.
What Does the Glassy Onion Look Like?
The glassy onion grows from a group of underground bulbs, kind of like a regular onion you eat! Each bulb sends up a tall, straight stem.
At the top of each stem, you'll find a beautiful cluster of flowers. This cluster is called an inflorescence. There can be up to 25 flowers, but usually fewer.
The flowers are white or a light pinkish-white. They have six shiny parts called tepals. As the flowers get older, these tepals become very clear, almost like glass! That's how the plant got its "glassy" name.
