Textile Onion

Allium textile

Textile Onion (Allium textile) is a short native wild onion that grows from a small bulb wrapped in a net of fibers like coarse woven cloth, which gives the plant its name. It blooms in May and June, holding a tight, upright cluster of white flowers with a thin red-brown stripe on each petal, on dry prairie and rocky hillsides in the Black Hills, and the National Park Service lists it at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave and Devils Tower.

Free photos from other sources

Textile Onion: Upright cluster of white flowers, the buds tinged pink — Textile Onion (Allium textile). Craig Martin, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Textile Onion: Whole plant with thread-thin leaves among pine needles — Textile Onion (Allium textile). Brian Dickerson, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Textile Onion: Two short plants flowering on dry, rocky ground — Textile Onion (Allium textile). karissarc, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Textile Onion: Flowers close up, with a red-brown stripe on each tepal — Textile Onion (Allium textile). Matt Lavin, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Textile Onion: Clump of short flowering stems on dry, sandy ground — Textile Onion (Allium textile). Matt Lavin, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Textile Onion: Narrow grooved leaves and stem bases at ground level — Textile Onion (Allium textile). Matt Lavin, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Quick facts
Family	Amaryllidaceae · Amaryllis
Status	Native perennial
Blooms	May through June
Height	10–30 cm (4–12 in)
Where	Dry prairie, rocky and clay hillsides and grassy pine openings
Also called	Prairie Onion, White Wild Onion, pšíŋ šičámna (Lakota)
Synonym	Allium aridum, Allium reticulatum, Allium reticulatum var. playanum, Allium geyeri var. textile
Traditional use	Black Elk and Flying By's 1998 Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota (Sitting Bull College), writing of wild onions in general, says they were cooked whole in soups and stews or eaten raw, and rubbed on bee and wasp stings.

Roots, seeds & germination

Root: An egg-shaped bulb about 1.2–2.5 cm (½–1 in) long, sometimes two or three together, inside a gray to brown coat made of a fine, open net of fibers, with a tuft of short roots at the base. New bulbs form from the base of the old one, so plants slowly make small clumps.

Seed: A small three-lobed capsule, about 2–3 mm (⅛ in) long, held upright and hugged by the dry outer tepals. It splits into three parts, each with one or two shiny seeds, and can be gathered in June and July.

Germination: The seed is dormant when ripe. SDSU suggests scratching the seed coat or sowing outdoors in fall so winter breaks the dormancy, and bulblets can be dug and replanted in spring.

How do you identify Textile Onion?

Look for a short, straight, leafless stem 10–30 cm (4–12 in) tall topped by a tight, rounded, upright cluster of 15 to 30 small flowers, all on short stalks from one point. Each flower has six white tepals 5–7 mm (¼ in) long, with a thin red to red-brown stripe down the middle, and the stamens stay inside the flower. There are usually just two thread-thin leaves, 1–3 mm wide, the bulb is wrapped in a gray-brown net of fibers, and the whole plant smells of onion. Meadow Deathcamas, white and blooming in the same weeks and places, has no onion smell, a pointed spike of flowers with a yellow-green spot on each tepal, and several flat, V-folded leaves up to 1 cm (⅜ in) wide.

When does it bloom?

May through June.

Where does it grow?

Full sun on dry, open ground: mixed-grass and shortgrass prairie, rocky limestone and sandstone hillsides, heavy clay slopes, sandy soils, road banks and grassy openings in ponderosa pine. Black Hills specimens come from about 1,070 to 1,550 m (3,500–5,080 ft), and GBIF holds 104 from the seven Black Hills counties, some from the plains just outside the Hills, going back to 1892. The 1986 Jewel Cave survey lists it, and the National Park Service records it at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave and Devils Tower.