Allium canadense

Quick Characteristics:

Allium canadense L. "red bulbil form from Texas" - Typical Allium canadense is best avoided as a weed because most of the flowers are replaced by bulbils, and aside from being ugly, the bulbils drop off and start new plants. Over the years I've kept just this one form with its white red-tipped bulbils, occasionally sputtering forth a white bloom or two. With the green sprouting tips to the bulbils, I thought the plant had a whimsical appearance and was thus appealing. Each year I would cut the stems off, then bag and discard the promiscuous propagules. Now I wish I had kept a few, because last summer a wild animal dug up and ate the clump! (there are foxes in the yard, and they've taken to digging and eating some alliums, particularly A. paniculatum). Photo by Mark McDonough.

Allium canadense forma florosum - This is a rare non-bulbilliferous form of the weedy A. canadense, the type species being weedy on account of the many bulbils that replace the flowers. The plants shown here were collected by Thad Howard in Texas, found in a couple locations growing amongst millions of the normal weedy types. This name, proposed by Thad Howard, has not yet been published, yet this is a highly ornamental form with large heads of white to barely tinged pinkish flowers, and rarely 1-3 obscure bulbils. In the second "garden view" of the same plant, you can see what a fine statement it makes in the garden, growing to about 30" (75 cm) tall, flowering in June. Photos by Mark McDonough.