Fringed Onion
Allium fimbriatum var. fimbriatum
Color: Purple/lavender
Common name: California Buckeye
Latin name: Allium fimbriatum var. fimbriatum
Family: ALLIACEAE (was Liliaceae)
Height: Stem — 10–37 cm
Description: Tiny flowers, 6–75 in a cluster on a leafless weak stem. Each flower with 6 segments/petals. Petals are lanceolate to ovate, dark red-purple to white.
Leaf: 1.5–2 X stem, hollow cylindric single leaf curled close to the ground.
Range: California — s North Coast Ranges, s Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi Mountain Area, Central Western California, Southwestern California, East of Sierra Nevada, Desert. Distribution outside California — n Baja California.
Habitat: Dry slopes and flats and can be found in a variety of plant communities including, but not limited to, creosote bush scrub, Joshua tree woodland, pinyon-juniper woodland, chaparral.
Elevation: 300–2700 m
Flowering time: Apr-May
Notes: Common perennial bulb forb/herb that is native to California and is found only slightly beyond California borders. The plant has a heavy onion smell and was used by Indians for food. This example was found in great profusion on the gravely and sandy flats in creosote bush scrub off Highway 395 on Haiwee Power Plant Road, Kern County, California. Photographed May 2010.
We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.
Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.
Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...
What's Blooming Now - Check the Wildflower Reports
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The Desert Environment
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