Allium hyalinum

Glassy onion

Family: Alliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Glassy onion is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area on grassy slopes and outcrops at elevations of 50 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in clusters of 5 to 25 blooms, each 6 to 10 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 15 to 45 centimeters tall, it develops from a small ovoid bulb that forms clustered groups with distinctive light yellow inner layers. Its two to three leaves are widely channeled, measuring 0.7 to 1.5 times the stem length and spreading in a graceful pattern. The delicate white flowers become translucent and fold over the ovary as they mature, creating an ethereal appearance in grassland habitats.

Habitat: Common. Grassy slopes, outcrops

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 50-1500 m

Bioregions: SNF, GV, SnFrB.

California counties: Tulare, Kern, Fresno, Amador, Mariposa, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Madera, Calaveras, Merced, Butte, Sacramento, Shasta, Stanislaus, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Nevada, Riverside, Yuba, Los Angeles, San Diego

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