Fringed onion is a low bulbed perennial with a single basal leaf and a flowering scape 12"-15" tall.  It has two to three papery bracts at the base of the pedicels, six equal petal-like perianth segments which are dark red-purple to white with a darker mid-
vein, and ovary crests that are usually fimbriate or toothed.  The anthers are yellow and the stigma has three linear lobes.  The stem and leaves have the taste and odor of onions.  Fringed or wild onion grows between 1000' and 8000' on dry slopes and flats in the desert and desert mountains on the west edge of both deserts to Mt. Pinos and north.  It blooms from March to July. Variant mohavense, the Mojave fringed onion, has white, pink or light lavender perianth parts and ovary crests that are deeply cut, and blooms from April to May.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Allium 2) fimbriatum
Pronunciation: AL-ee-um fim-bree-AY-tum.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.