Allium peninsulare

Mexicali onion

Family: Alliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mexicali onion is a California native perennial found in the southwestern California Coast Ranges and Peninsular Ranges in rocky or sandy habitats. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces striking red-purple flowers in clusters of 5 to 35 blooms with lanceolate petals whose tips slightly spread. Growing with slender stems 12 to 45 centimeters tall, it emerges from a small ovoid bulb 8 to 15 millimeters wide. Its two to three leaves are narrow and channeled, measuring about three-quarters the height of the stem. The plant has distinctive minute three-lobed ovary crests that contribute to its unique botanical character.

California counties: Riverside, Kern, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Tuolumne, Santa Barbara, Tulare, San Mateo, Colusa, Tehama, Butte, Merced, Humboldt, Shasta, El Dorado, Fresno, Mariposa, Marin, San Benito, Calaveras, Lake, Nevada, Yuba, Monterey

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