''Allium unifolium'', the one-leaf onion or American garlic, is a

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n species of

wild onion Wild onion can refer to * any uncultivated species in the genus ''Allium'', especially: **'' Allium bisceptrum'' ** ''Allium canadense'' ** ''Allium tricoccum'' ** '' Allium validum'' ** '' Allium vineale'' ** ''Allium ochotense'' * '' Asphodelus te ...

. It is native to the coastal mountain ranges of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> It grows on clay soils including serpentine, at elevations up to 1100 m.Flora of North America, v 26 p 258
/ref> ''Allium unifolium'', despite its name, usually has 2–3 flat leaves up to 50 cm long.

Bulbs In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs during ...

, though, are usually solitary, egg-shaped, up to 2 cm long, often formed at the end of

rhizomes In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

spreading out from the parent plant. Scapes are round in cross-section, up to 80 cm tall. Flowers are up to 15 mm across;

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of ve ...

usually pink but occasionally white;

anthers The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

yellow or purple.Hitchcock, C. H., A.J. Cronquist, F. M. Ownbey & J. W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Cryptogams, Gymnosperms, and Monocotyledons. 1: 1–914. In C. L. Hitchcock Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, Seattle. This plant has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

References

External links

United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
* Flora of Baja California Flora of California Flora of Oregon unifolium Onions Plants described in 1863 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Allium-stub