Allium diabolense

Diablo onion

Family: Alliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Diablo onion is a California native perennial found in the Mount Hamilton Range, southern Coastal Ranges, and western Transverse Ranges in dry serpentine habitats at elevations of 500 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white flowers with pink-tipped perianth parts in clusters of 10 to 50 blooms. Growing with slender stems 7 to 20 centimeters tall, it emerges from a small ovoid bulb with a distinctive red-brown outer coating. Its single leaf is cylindrical and typically 1.5 to 3 times the length of the stem, with an elegant, sparse growth habit. The plant's ovary features six prominent, jagged crests that add intriguing botanical detail to its delicate white and pink flowers.

Habitat: dry serpentine

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 500-1500 m

Bioregions: SnFrB (Mount Hamilton Range), SCoR, WTR.

California counties: Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, Kern, Santa Clara, Monterey, Stanislaus

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.