4. Allium cernuum Roth (wild onion, nodding wild onion)

Pl. 99 d, e; Map 399

Bulbs 1–4 cm long, narrowly elongate and tapering into the aerial stems, the outer coat smooth and membranous to papery. Aerial stems 10–60 cm long, not inflated, arched or hooked near the tip at flowering. Leaves basal or nearly so, 10–40 cm long, 2–6 mm wide, flat, linear, not tapering to a petiole, the base pale green to white or light pink when fresh. Umbels with 25–85 flowers. Bulblets absent. Flower stalks much longer than the flowers. Perianth bell-shaped, the sepals and petals 4–6 mm long, ovate-elliptic, the tips blunt to somewhat pointed, purplish pink to pale pink, less commonly white. Fruits 3–5 mm long, obovoid, 3-lobed, each lobe with a pair of hornlike, triangular projections near the top. 2n=14. June–September.

Scattered in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions (throughout most of the U.S. and adjacent Canada, but absent from southern portions of the southeastern states). Glades and exposed bluffs, openings of dry upland forests, mostly on dolomite; also on rocky roadsides.

This species has been confused with the more common A. stellatum by some botanists in the past, in part because the aerial stems of that species can also be arched or hooked, at least when young. The perianth shapes (bell-shaped vs. broadly spreading) are more diagnostic. Allium cernuum also tends to flower somewhat earlier in the season than does A. stellatum.