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Early Onion
Allium praecox
  
About Early Onion (Allium praecox) 6 Nurseries Carry This Plant Allium praecox is a species of wild onion known by the common name early onion. It is native to the coastal hills and mountains of southern California and Baja California, including the Channel Islands, where it grows in shady areas in clay soils. This onion grows from a brownish or grayish bulb between one and two centimeters long. It produces a stem up to 60 centimeters long and two or three long, keeled leaves about the same length or sometimes a little longer. The flower cluster holds up to 40 flowers, each on a long pedicel up to 4 centimeters long. The flowers are purple-veined pink and dry to a papery texture as they age.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Perennial herb

Size
Size
2 - 3 ft tall
2 - 3 ft wide

Form
Form
Fountain, Rounded

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast

Dormancy
Dormancy
Summer Deciduous

Fragrance
Fragrance
Slight

Flower Color
Flower Color
Pink

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Winter, Spring

Wildlife Supported
 


Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 2x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Medium, Slow

Soil Description
Soil Description
Heavy, damper soil

Common uses
Common uses
Bee Gardens

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
7, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Chaparral, oak woodland, grassy slopes, meadows and moist grasslands of southern California

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 8.3" - 30.1", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 1.34", Coldest Month: 45.1" - 57.3", Hottest Month: 60.8" - 80.6", Humidity: 1.13" - 29.80", Elevation: 3" - 4341"


Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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