I can post a tiresome detailed description if no one recognizes it from pics. But you wouldn't like that… :-)
Hi CcDry: Work with me and I will ID this critter for you. What I need to know is the color of the flower other than white, are there green stripes in the petals or on the backside of the petals? How many flowers are there to a stalk? I'll show you one of my menaces in the URL below, Allium triquetrum - Welsh Onion. http://plants.montara.com/ListPages/FamPages/Lilia1.html Jim
Hi no offence to anyone Any info on the odor from the crushed leaf. I am wondering because the plant looks more to the Garic side rather than the wild onion side of the group. regards Doug
I see the sharply contrasting green 'keel' of each petal in that pic. I have that Allium, too. though in a small area. it has a good garlicy flavor. it forms a nice looking (seasonal) 'cover' of consistently arched leaves. and the flowers are nice bright white. howevre, i wouldn't spread it around indiscriminately! i also have A. neapolitanum http://images.google.com/images?q=Allium neapolitanum | triquetum &hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi I's also attractive as a wildflower, but it's annoyed me somewhat. the allium or related genus i'm trying to ID has only the slightest coloratoin along the 'keel' of each petal. this keel color is only a darkened dirty tan-olive, while the overall petal color is a dull yellowed cream. ahh... i'm not sure what a true 'wild onion' looks like, assuming this plant isn't one of the "wild onions" :-) but this plant does have hollow round-section leaves like a cultivated onoin. i've cooked it. all parts take on a dark (slightly reddish) brown hue. and it's tasteless and has no allium odor, raw or cooked. which has made me wonder if it's not an allium. google image nothoscordum gives plants prettier than my weed. a known california weed is 'tasteless/odorless', but has flattened leaves, not tubular. http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/weedinfo/nothoscordum.htm mine has bulblets that form distinctly from the 'mother' bulb. i mean that the bublets are nearby, but aren't embedded in the mother bulb. my camera does lousy closeups. but if you can zoom in to the center photo, you might see that the petals form a cone. they don't appear to be truly fused together. and the tip of each petal is rather blunt. I ripped some petals off of the side of the flower in the center pic. and i could post some measurements :-)
Hi CcDry: Go to CalPhotos sometime, type in Nothoscordum Inodorum and then click Search. The Welsh Onion does not produce such a prominent protectant sheath, covering the juvenile flower head. We have it here also but it is not even close to being as invasive a plant as the Welsh Onion. http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/ We also have a form in which the flower and floret arrangement is exactly the same as Allium nevadense but there are some dissimilarities in the leaves. I'll track it down later as to the correct name but it also has a strong garlic smell when the leaves are crushed or mowed down. Aside from having a prettier flower it has the same growth characteristics as a Welsh Onion but is not nearly as tall a plant or as invasive a plant either. Jim
Aha. I know I've looked through Calflora years ago, and noticed the nice collection of Sierran Allium pix. Apparently, I wasn't systematic, or for another reason, I didn't come across this page: http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img...ere-taxon=Allium+paniculatum+var.+paniculatum Allium paniculatum var. paniculatum Panicled Onion This looks much like my mystery plant/weed! But… Allium paniculatum http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&q="Allium+paniculatum" shows much more colorful flowers! Aaaaaa! This is Allium paniculatum var. paniculatum: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/erick.dronnet/allium_paniculatum1.htm so perhaps my weed is the var.
Allium neapolitanum is a digression in this thread, but among my 3 Allium-like bulbs, A. neapolitanum probably most closely resembles Nothoscordum inodorum. While the Calflora A. neapolitanum pix http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Allium+neapolitanum didn't look quite like what I believe is A. neapolitanum in our yard, the http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/weedinfo/nothoscordum-inodorum.htm http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Nothoscordum+inodorum pix look way different. Our plants don't have roots like roots in those pix. http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/weedinfo/nothoscordum.htm says Nothoscordum inodorum: "… lack an onion or garlic odor when crushed." My "A neapolitanum" has a very definite Allium odor and its flavor is a "greenish" variant of the Allium flavor. Mine has "perfect marbles" spherical bulbs. And the leaves become consistently wider from base to tip. In contrast, much of the lower part of N. inodorum leaves appear to remain approx same width. _______________________________ PS. Allium nevadense http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Allium+nevadense looks completely different from the three 'Allium' bulbs I have.
Hi CcDry: I've been all over the place in these forums the last day or two, now let's get back to these. How many onions are we to ID from the original pics? Years ago I learned Nothoscordum inodorum to be called Wild Leek. Only the flowers supposedly have a fragrance but that is not true. There is a pleasant characteristic odor given off when ones hands are rubbed lengthwise across the edges of the leaves. I've hand pulled enough of them out of the ground to know that faint and peculiar odor. They were hand eradicated from our yard by me over 20 years ago. What I learned 30+ years ago may now be passe as Wild Leek is now classed as being Allium tricoccum. All we can do is work with you but ultimately you will ID your plant or plants on your own. After all you know what they look like and can see what is left of them, whereas we cannot. It is not uncommon for an Allium to be white here and one called the same Allium in France to be pink in color. Obviously it is another area that has some sorting out that may need to be addressed, unless we read somewhere that Allium paniculatum var. paniculatum can come in either white or a pinkish white flower. A. neapolitanum - Wild Garlic is common to where you are as well as to where we are. There is a difference in the odors given off by an Allium and a Wild Garlic but we will probably have to have an expert cruise through Gilroy first to ID the smell and then visit our yards. Seriously, the leaves on the Wild Garlic have a thicker cuticle and are shorter in length than most of the Alliums are. Now for Allium nevadense. We were given the bulbs years ago that came from Nevada through Arizona to us. That Allium is not very invasive and has pretty much stayed where we originally planted them. The leaves do give off an onion smell when crushed or mowed down. Actually when crushed or moved they are much stronger odor wise than the Welsh Onions are. A better look at the flower head. http://www.life.umd.edu/emeritus/reveal/pbio/slides0/0569b.jpg Jim
