Allium lacunosum

Pitted onion

Family: Alliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pitted onion is a California native perennial found in dry, rocky areas at moderate elevations. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces delicate white to pale pink flowers in small clusters with 5 to 45 individual blossoms. Growing 10 to 35 centimeters tall with two slender, cylindric or flat leaves, it has a distinctive small bulb 1 to 2 centimeters wide with a complex outer coating of thick-walled, square or polygonal cells. Its narrow flower parts are oblanceolate to narrowly ovate, standing erect or slightly spreading. The plant's ovary has three tiny, two-lobed central crests that are densely covered with fine papillae.

California counties: Monterey, San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Kern, San Benito, Inyo, Marin, Calaveras, Santa Barbara, San Mateo, Merced, Stanislaus, Ventura, Butte

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