Allium canadense

{{Speciesbox

| name = Canada onion

| taxon = Allium canadense

|parent = Allium subg. Amerallium

|status=G5

|status_system=TNC

|status_ref={{cite web |title=NatureServe Explorer 2.0 |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.149285/Allium_canadense |website=explorer.natureserve.org |access-date=6 May 2022}}

| image = Allium canadense var canadense.jpg

| image_caption =

|image2=Allium canadense drawing.png

|image2_caption=1913 drawing.illustration from Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. Illustrated flora of the northern states and Canada. Vol. 1: 499.

| authority = L.{{cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/359216 |volume=2 |first=Carl |last=Linnaeus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title=Species plantarum |year=1753 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library |page=1195|publisher=Impensis Laurentii Salvii }}

| synonyms = *Allium acetabulum (Raf.) Shinners

Allium canadense var. ovoideum Farw.
Allium canadense var. robustum Farw.
Allium continuum Small
Geboscon acetabulum Raf.
Kalabotis canadensis (L.) Raf.

|synonyms_ref={{Tropicos|18401640|Allium canadense|L.}}{{ThePlantList |id=kew-295220 |taxon=Allium canadense |authority=L.}}

}}

Allium canadense, the Canada onion, Canadian garlic, wild garlic, meadow garlic and wild onion{{GRIN | access-date=21 February 2011}} is a perennial plant native to eastern North America{{efn|In Canadian French, the plant is known as ail du Canada ("Canadian garlic") and oignons des prairies ("onion of the prairies/meadows").}} from Texas to Florida to New Brunswick to Montana. The species is also cultivated in other regions as an ornamental and as a garden culinary herb.{{Cite web |url=http://www.izelplants.com/plants/mapsearch/perennials/item/allium-canadense |title=Izel, Native Plants For Your Garden, Washington DC, Allium canadense |access-date=2014-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316231251/http://www.izelplants.com/plants/mapsearch/perennials/item/allium-canadense |archive-date=2014-03-16 |url-status=dead }} The plant is also reportedly naturalized in Cuba.{{cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do;jsessionid=2AB1439588042139DAD04CC80F76A3A5?name_id=295220|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|work=kew.org}}

Description

Allium canadense has an edible bulb covered with a dense skin of brown fibers. The plant also has strong onion odor and taste.{{Cite book |last1=Elias |first1=Thomas S. |last2=Dykeman |first2=Peter A. |date=2009 |orig-date=1982 |title=Edible Wild Plants : A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods |url=https://archive.org/details/ediblewildplants0000elia_e4e5/page/61 |url-access=registration |language=en |edition=Paperback |location=New York |publisher=Sterling |pages=58, 61 |isbn=978-1-4027-6715-9 |oclc=244766414 |access-date=30 January 2025}}

{{Cite book|last1=Elias|first1=Thomas S.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/244766414|title=Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods|last2=Dykeman|first2=Peter A.|publisher=Sterling|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4027-6715-9|location=New York|pages=58, 61|oclc=244766414|orig-year=1982}} Crow garlic (Allium vineale) is similar, but it has a strong garlic taste.{{Failed verification|date=January 2021}}

The narrow, grass-like leaves originate near the base of the stem, which is topped by a dome-like cluster of star-shaped, pink or white flowers. These flowers may be partially or entirely replaced by bulblets.{{eFloras|1|242101341|Allium canadense |first1=Dale W. |last1=McNeal Jr. |first2=T.D. |last2=Jacobsen |volume=26 |access-date=21 February 2011}} When present, the flowers are hermaphroditic (both male and female organs) and are pollinated by American bees (not honeybees) and other insects. It typically flowers in the spring and early summer, from May to June.{{cite book |last1=Correll |first1=D. S. |first2=M. C. |last2=Johnston |date=1970 |title=Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas |publisher=University of Texas at Dallas |place=Richardson}}{{cite book |editor=Great Plains Flora Association |date=1986 |title=Flora of the Great Plains |publisher=University Press of Kansas |place=Lawrence}}{{cite journal |last=Schwegman |first=J. E |date=1991 |title=The Vascular Flora of Langham Island, Kankakee County, Illinois |periodical=Erigenia |volume=11 |pages=1–8}}{{cite encyclopedia |last=Voss |first=E. G. |date=1972 |title=Gymnosperms and Monocots |encyclopedia=Michigan Flora |publisher=Cranbrook Institute of Science |place=Bloomfield Hills, Michigan}}{{cite book |last=Wunderlin |first=R. P. |date=1998 |title=Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida |publisher=University Press of Florida |place=Gainesville}}

File:Allium canadense var. hyacinthoides.png of southwest Oklahoma.]]

Varieties

The bulblet-producing form is classified as A. canadense var. canadense. It was once thought that the tree onion could be related to this plant,{{cite web |url=http://food.oregonstate.edu/glossary/a/abutilon58.html |title=ALLIUM CANADENSE, TREE ONION, WILD ONION |author=Food Resource, Oregon State University |publisher=originally from Hedrick, U.P. ed., Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants (1919) |access-date=21 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718234707/http://food.oregonstate.edu/glossary/a/abutilon58.html |archive-date=2011-07-18 |url-status=dead }} but it is now known that the cultivated tree onion is a hybrid between the common onion (A. cepa) and Welsh onion (A. fistulosum), classified as A. × proliferum.{{GRIN | Allium x proliferum | 404736 | access-date = 21 February 2011}}

Five varieties of the species are widely recognized:

Allium canadense var. canadense - most pedicels replaced by bulbils, rarely producing fruits or seeds; most of the range of the species.
Allium canadense var. ecristatum Ownbey tepals deep pink and rather thick; coastal plain of Texas.
Allium canadense var. fraseri Ownbey - flowers white; Great Plains from Texas to Kansas.
Allium canadense var. hyacinthoides (Bush) Ownbey - tepals pink, thin, flowers fragrant; northern Texas and southern Oklahoma.
Allium canadense var. lavandulare (Bates) Ownbey & Aase - flowers lavender, not fragrant; northern Arkansas to South Dakota.
Allium canadense var. mobilense (Regel) Ownbey - flowers lilac, lacks bulblets; southeastern US.

Uses

The Canada onion is cultivated as a vegetable in home gardens in Cuba,{{efn|In Cuban Spanish, known mainly as cebolla silvestre ("wild onion"), with other rare colloquial names.}} scattered locally in the south to western parts of the island. It was formerly collected from the wild to be eaten by Native Americans and by European settlers.{{cite book |last=Hanelt |first=Peter |editor=P. Hanelt |title=Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (except ornamentals) |chapter=Alliaceae |year=2001 |publisher=Spring-Verlag |location=Berlin |isbn=3-540-41017-1 |page=2250 }} People in the Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation continue the tradition of picking and cooking wild onions in early spring.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cherokee.org/About-The-Nation/Culture/CookBook/Wild-Onions-and-Scrambled-Eggs|title=Wild Onions and Scrambled Eggs|website=www.cherokee.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-13|archive-date=March 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313125646/http://www.cherokee.org/About-The-Nation/Culture/CookBook/Wild-Onions-and-Scrambled-Eggs|url-status=dead}} Various Native American tribes also used the plant for other purposes: for example, rubbing the plant on the body for protection from insect, lizard, scorpion, and tarantula bites.{{cite book |last=Moerman |first=David E. |title=Native American Ethnobotany |year=1998 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, OR |isbn=0-88192-453-9 |page=57 }}

The whole plant can be eaten raw, with the tougher outer layers removed. It can also be cooked and included in any recipe calling for onions. However, there have been reported cases of poisoning when deathcamas bulbs were mistaken for wild onions.{{cite journal |last1=Padrez |first1=Kevin A. |last2=Stix |first2=Benjamin L. |last3=Cunningham |first3=Cody A. |last4=Abdalla |first4=Abdelmohaymin |last5=Oishi |first5=Marisa |last6=Cardy |first6=Vanessa |last7=Nordt |first7=Sean Patrick |title=Acute death Camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum) plant poisoning in seven family members following foraging for wild onions |journal=The American Journal of Emergency Medicine |date=January 2025 |volume=87 |pages=217.e1–217.e5 |doi=10.1016/j.ajem.2024.10.027}} Additionally, long term consumption of wild onion bulbs reduces iodine uptake by the thyroid gland. This can worsen iodine deficiency for people with a diet that is low in iodine.{{cite book |last1=Lampe |first1=Kenneth F. |last2=McCann |first2=Mary Ann |title=AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants |date=1985 |publisher=American Medical Association |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=978-0-89970-183-7 |page=28 |url=https://archive.org/details/amahandbookofpoi00lamp/page/28 |access-date=31 January 2025}} Horses are vulnerable to developing hemolytic anemia from eating wild onion leaves.{{cite web |last=Munro |first=Derek B. |date=2013 |title=Allium canadense – Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System |url=https://www.cbif.gc.ca/eng/species-bank/canadian-poisonous-plants-information-system/all-plants-scientific-name/allium-canadense/?id=1370403266747 |website=Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility |language=en |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031185839/https://www.cbif.gc.ca/eng/species-bank/canadian-poisonous-plants-information-system/all-plants-scientific-name/allium-canadense/?id=1370403266747 |archive-date=31 October 2021 |access-date=28 May 2011}}