Hi Diane, I am not aware of any studies which found that serpentine Allium specifically accumulate minerals from the soil. However, it would not be surprising since many other serpentine plants do accumulate minerals from serpentine, particularly heavy metals (both the essential kind and the nonessential kind like lead). Most of the western U.S. alliums are too small to be eaten, particularly those related to *Allium jepsonii*, which has a limited distribution only in California and restricted to serpentine. They only grow one leaf per year and sampling a whole leaf would be very unhealthy if not detrimental to the plant. The only one here that grows large enough for nibbling is *Allium unifolium*, which is a vigorous grower and is a grassland species. I do know of a person who samples the flowers of serpentine alliums and she says that each species tastes differently. However, given what we don't know about the metal accumulation in serpentine species, and what we do know about other serpentine plants, it's best to avoid tasting them. We do have a weed species introduced from Europe called *Allium triquetrum*, which had peaked my interest for a while now. Perhaps this year I will give it a try! Nhu On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 8:28 AM, Diane Whitehead <voltaire@islandnet.com> wrote: > Nhu, > > Thank you for the new alliums and reorganization. > > In studying western U.S. alliums, did you find that the ones growing > on serpentine are accumulators of any of the minerals? I have long > been curious as to whether all alliums are safely edible, though the > only one that grows exuberantly enough for me to eat is cernuum. > > Diane Whitehead > Victoria, B.C., Canada > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >