Allium membranaceum

Papery onion

Family: Alliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Papery onion is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Roaded Forests, northern Sierra Nevada Forests, and southern Sierra Nevada in wooded slopes at elevations of 150 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in clusters of 15 to 35 blossoms with slender pedicels. Growing with stems 15 to 40 centimeters tall, it develops an ovoid bulb 10 to 16 millimeters wide that may form tight clusters of bulblets at its base. Its two to three leaves are flat and approximately equal in length to the stem. The flower parts spread outward with ovate to elliptic petals that become papery when fruiting.

Habitat: Uncommon. Wooded slopes

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 150-1400 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRF, n&ampc SNF, s SNH.

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