Nodding Onion

Allium cernuum

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) is a native wild onion with a loose cluster of small pink to nearly white flowers that hangs from the sharply bent top of a leafless stem. It blooms in July and August in open pine forest, meadows and rocky slopes of the Black Hills, mainly in the central and southern Hills, and the whole plant smells of onion when crushed.

Free photos from other sources

Nodding Onion: Two rose-lavender flower clusters in prairie grass — Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum). Jason Leduc, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Nodding Onion: Pink bell-shaped flowers with stamens sticking out past the tepals — Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum). Jo Roberts, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Nodding Onion: Pale pink cluster hanging from the bent top of the stem — Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum). Craig Martin, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Nodding Onion: Plants in grass, with narrow grass-like leaves and nodding flower clusters — Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum). Jo Roberts, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Nodding Onion: Flower bud in its papery bract, already hanging from the crooked stem — Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum). Matt Berger, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Nodding Onion: Green seed capsules on a still-drooping head in late summer — Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum). Jo Roberts, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Quick facts
Family	Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Allioideae) · Amaryllis
Status	Native perennial
Blooms	July through August, a few into early September
Height	20–60 cm (8–24 in)
Where	Open ponderosa pine forest, grassy meadows and rocky slopes
Also called	Nodding Wild Onion, Wild Onion, pšíŋ šičámna (Lakota)
Synonym	Allium cernuum var. obtusum, Allium cernuum var. neomexicanum, Allium recurvatum, Allium allegheniense, Allium oxyphilum, Allium alatum, Allium nutans
Traditional use	Sitting Bull College's 1998 Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota says the Lakota cooked wild onions in soups and stews or ate them raw, and rubbed them on bee and wasp stings. The entry covers the wild onions as a group.
Note	The Lakota name pšíŋ šičámna, "wild onion", covers the wild onions as a group.

Roots, seeds & germination

Root: A narrow, cone-shaped bulb that tapers up into the stem, often in clumps of several faintly pink bulbs, with fine roots from its base. Over time the bulb divides and a single plant forms a small cluster.

Seed: A small three-lobed capsule about 4 mm (⅛ in) long splits into three parts, each holding one or a few glossy black, angular seeds about 2–3 mm long. The seed ripens from late August into September and drops easily.

Germination: Fall sowing outdoors gives the seed the cold, moist period it likes; Prairie Moon Nursery suggests 60 days of cold, moist treatment before spring sowing, and the Eastern Illinois University seedling guide gives 30 days. British Columbia trials found untreated seed sprouted best in warm conditions, with the first seedlings after about two weeks.

How do you identify Nodding Onion?

Look for a smooth, leafless flower stem 20–60 cm (8–24 in) tall that bends over at the top like a shepherd's crook, so the cluster of a dozen or more small bell-shaped flowers hangs upside down. The pale pink to rose-lavender flowers have six tepals, the stamens and style stick out past them, and even the bud nods. The grass-like leaves all grow near the base, and a crushed leaf smells strongly of onion. Textile Onion has white flowers in an upright cluster in May and June. Meadow Deathcamas, which is deadly and grows in the same openings, has cream-white flowers strung along an upright spike, V-folded leaves and no onion smell.

When does it bloom?

July through August, a few into early September.

Where does it grow?

Sunny or lightly shaded places: open ponderosa pine forest and pine parkland, grassy meadows in the pines, rocky granite and limestone slopes, road banks and gulches, from about 1,070 to 2,020 m (3,500–6,620 ft). The 1986 plant survey of Jewel Cave lists it, and the National Park Service lists it at Wind Cave and Mount Rushmore. About 97 herbarium specimens from 1892 to 2011 come from Pennington, Custer, Lawrence and Fall River counties in South Dakota and Crook and Weston counties in Wyoming, including the Black Elk Wilderness and the Spearfish Canyon area.