Tags
Allium falcifolium, Allium stellatum, Allium textile, Allium tricoccum, Allium unifolium, Allium validum, Allium vineale, antiasthmatic, Autumn Onion, Crow Garlic, field craft, home remedies, home remedy, militia supply, Native American culture, native american medicine, Oneleaf Onion, Pacific Onion, Prairie Onion, prepper's plant, Ramp, Scytheleaf Onion, Swamp Onion, treat colds, treat earaches, treat high blood pressure, treat high cholesterol, treat shortness of breath, treat stings, treatment of colds, treatment of earaches, treatment to prevent worms, treatment to reduce blood pressure, Wild Garlic, Wild Leek, Wood Leek
Medical disclaimer: always check with a physician before consuming wild plants, and make positive identification in the field using a good source such as Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West. Michael Moore also has a glossary of medical terms in his books, and maps in later editions. )
#147 (Part 3)
Common Name: Onion/Garlic/Leeks
Latin Name: Allium stellatum, A. textile, A. tricoccum, A. unifolium, A. validum, A. vineale, A. falcifolium
Family: Liliaceae
Range: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALLIU All States, except Hawaii, all of Canada, except Nunavut; this is the main database for USDA.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALST Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, N. and S. Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming; In Canada; Saskatchewan to Ontario. (Allium stellatum)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALTE Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota to Kansas, Montana to New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Washington; In Canada; Alberta to Manitoba. (Allium textile)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALTR3 All States east of the Mississippi R., except Florida, S. Carolina and Mississippi; plus Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, N. Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma; In Canada; Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. (Allium tricoccum)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALUN Oregon and California. (Allium unifolium)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALVA Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and California; In Canada; British Columbia. (Allium validum)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALVI All States east of the Mississippi, except New Hampshire; plus Iowa to Louisiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska; In Canada; Brtish Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. (Allium vineale)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALFA3 Oregon and California. (Allium falcifolium)
Photos: (Click on Latin Name after Common Name.)
Warnings: Unless PFAF has some warnings, besides “don’t feed large quantities to dogs” I won’t list their warnings. See part 1 on PFAF warnings.
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#147(r)
Common Name: Autumn Onion, Prairie Onion (Allium stellatum )
Appearance and Habitat: A 1-2 ft., chive-like perennial forming tufts of slender, solid leaves and stems. The green leaves appear in spring and die back as the flowering stalks appear. Umbels of rose-pink to lavender flowers form erect, 3-4 in. wide balls. The bulbs of wild onions have a strong flavor but can be eaten raw or parboiled. Early explorers ate them, and they were also used by settlers to treat colds, coughs, and asthma, and to repel insects. Chives (A. schoenoprasum) has hollow leaves and long, narrow, sharply pointed, lavender petals; it was introduced from Europe in the northeastern United States and in Canada from Alberta to Newfoundland.(1) Rocky prairies, slopes, shores and ridges. Usually found on limestone soils in N. America – Illinois and Minnesota to Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. A bulb growing to 0.8 m (2ft 7in). It is hardy to zone 6 and is not frost tender. It is in flower in July.(2)
Edible Uses:Bulb – raw or cooked. The bulbs are eaten by the N. American Indians. They are rather small, about 4cm tall and 15mm wide. Leaves – raw or cooked. Flowers – raw. Used as a garnish on salads.(3)
Medicinal Uses :A sweetened decoction of the root has been taken, mainly by children, as a remedy for colds. Although no other specific mention of medicinal uses has been seen for this species, members of this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system.(4)
Foot Notes: (1) http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ALST
Foot Notes: (2, 3, 4) http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+stellatum
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#147(s)
Common Name: Textile Onion (Allium textile )
Appearance and Habitat: Bulbs 1–3+, not rhizomatous, without basal bulbels, ovoid, 1.2–2.5 × 1–2 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, gray or brown, reticulate, cells fine-meshed, open, fibrous; inner coats whitish, cells vertically elongate and regular or obscure. Leaves persistent, green at anthesis, 2, sheathing; blade solid, ± straight, channeled, semiterete, 10–40 cm × 1–3(–5) mm, margins entire or denticulate. Scape persistent, solitary, erect, ± terete, 5–30(–40) cm × 1–3 mm. Umbel persistent, erect, compact to ± loose, 15–30-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 3, usually 1-veined, ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. Flowers urceolate to campanulate, 5–7 mm; tepals erect, white or rarely pink, with red or reddish brown midribs; outer whorl broadly ovate to lanceolate, unequal, becoming callous-keeled and permanently investing capsule, margins often obscurely toothed apically, apex obtuse to acuminate; inner whorl narrower, margins entire, apex distinctly spreading; stamens included; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; ovary ± conspicuously crested; processes 6, central, distinct or connate in pairs across septa, ± erect, rounded, to 1 mm, margins entire, becoming variously developed or obsolete in fruit; style linear, equaling filaments; stigma capitate, unlobed or obscurely lobed; pedicel 5–20 mm. Seed coat shining; cells ± smooth, without central papillae. Flowering May–Jun. Dry plains and hills; 300–2400 m; Alta., Man., Sask.; Colo., Idaho, Iowa, Kans., Minn., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., N.Dak., S.Dak., Utah, Wash., Wyo.(1) Dry prairies, calcareous rocks and open woods in N. America – Saskatchewan to South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona. A bulb growing to 0.2 m (0ft 8in). It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from May to July.(2)
Edible Uses:Bulb – raw or cooked. Fairly large, the bulb is up to 2cm in diameter. It is used as an onion substitute in stews etc. The bulb can be eaten fresh or can be stored for later use. Leaves – raw or cooked. Flowers – raw. Used as a garnish on salads.(3)
Medicinal Uses :Although no specific mention of medicinal uses has been seen for this species, members of this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system.(4)
Foot Notes: (1)http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101407
Foot Notes: (2, 3, 4)http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+textile
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#147(t)
Common Name: Ramp, Wild Leek, Wood Leek (Allium tricoccum )
Appearance and Habitat: Two long, glossy, oval leaves appear in early spring and wither away before the smooth, 6-10 in. flowering stalk matures. Small white flowers occur in a hemispherical, terminal cluster of creamy-white flowers; plant has a mild onion taste. In late April, before this species comes into flower, the people of the Great Smoky Mountains gather the plants for their annual Ramp Festival. The foliage and bulbs can be used in salads and soups. Native Americans treated stings with juice from the crushed bulbs.(1) Rich woods and bottoms, preferring slopes and streamsides. Usually in beech or maple woods in Eastern N. America – Quebec, south to Virginia and Iowa. A bulb growing to 0.3 m (1ft) by 0.2 m (0ft 8in). It is hardy to zone 6 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf 6-Mar It is in flower from Jun to July.(2)
Edible Uses:Bulb – raw or cooked. Used mainly as a flavouring in salads and savoury dishes. This is one of the best N. American wild species for sweetness and flavour. A mild sweet flavour, resembling leeks. The bulb is rather small, it is up to 12mm wide and 50mm tall and is produced in clusters on a rhizome. Leaves – raw or cooked. The unfolding leaves in spring have a mild sweet flavour, resembling leeks. Flowers – raw. Used as a garnish on salads. A hot onion flavour.(3)
Medicinal Uses :This species probably has most of the medicinal virtues of garlic (Allium sativum) but in a milder form. Traditionally the leaves were used in the treatment of colds and croup, and also as a spring tonic. The warm juice of the leaves and bulb was used externally in the treatment of earaches. A strong decoction of the root is emetic.(4)
Foot Notes: (1)http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ALTR3
Foot Notes: (2, 3, 4) http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+tricoccum
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#147(u)
Common Name: Oneleaf Onion (Allium unifolium )
Native American Name: Ammo (Shoshone)(1)
Appearance and Habitat: Bulbs solitary, replaced annually by new bulbs borne terminally on secondary rhizome; rhizomes 1–3, conspicuous, to 5 cm, smooth; parent bulbs disappearing by anthesis except for still-functional roots and bulb coat, ovoid to oblique-ovoid, 1–2 × 0.8–1.5 cm; outer coats not enclosing bulbs, pale brown, delicately cellular-reticulate, membranous, cells ± rectangular, without fibers; inner coats white, cells obscure, ± transversely elongate, contorted. Leaves persistent, green or withering from tip at anthesis, 2–3, basally sheathing, sheaths not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flattened, sometimes carinate abaxially, ± falcate, 18–50 cm × 4–10 mm, margins entire. Scape persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 20–80 cm × 2–7 mm. Umbel persistent, erect, loose, 15–35-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 6–8-veined, lance-ovate to broadly ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. Flowers stellate, 11–15 mm; tepals spreading, bright pink or rarely white, obovate to ovate, unequal, becoming papery and connivent over capsule, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse or emarginate, inner shorter and narrower than outer; stamens included; anthers yellow or purple; pollen yellow or gray; ovary crestless, 3-grooved, with thickened ridge on either side of groove; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed or obscurely 3-lobed; pedicel 15–40 mm. Seed coat dull; cells minutely roughened. Flowering May–Jun. Moist, clay soils, including serpentine, usually along streams; 0–1100 m; Calif., Oreg. The long, relatively thick rhizomes that develop annually from the bulbs are very characteristic of Allium unifolium and almost unique in North America. Only A. glandulosum Link & Otto and A. rhizomatum Wooton & Standley have similar rhizomes, but these species are not closely related to A. unifolium. Allium unifolium is known only from the Coast Ranges.(2) Moist soils in pine or mixed everbgreen forests in the coastal ranges of California. South-western N America – California and Oregon. A bulb growing to 0.6 m (2ft) by 0.1 m (0ft 4in). It is hardy to zone 8 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from Jun to July.(3)
Edible Uses:Bulb – raw or cooked. The bulbs are 10 – 15mm in diameter. Together with the young shoots, they are fried and eaten. Leaves – raw or cooked. Flowers – raw. Used as a garnish on salads.(4)
Medicinal Uses :Although no specific mention of medicinal uses has been seen for this species, members of this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system.(5)
Foot Notes: (1) Indian Uses of Native Plants by Edith Van Murphy, page 68, Publisher: Meyerbooks, Copyright 1990, ISBN 0-96638-15-4
Foot Notes: (2) http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101413
Foot Notes: ( 3, 4, 5 ) http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+unifolium
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#147(v)
Common Name: Pacific Onion, Swamp Onion (Allium validum ) Appearance and Habitat: From vigorous rhizomes occur large patches of flat, upright leaves, and flowering stalks to 1-3 ft. in height. Purple-pink flowers occur in tight clusters.(1) Swampy meadows at medium to high elevations in the mountains of South-western N. America – Idaho to California. A bulb growing to 0.6 m (2ft). It is hardy to zone 8. It is in flower from Jul to August.(2)
Edible Uses:Bulb – raw or cooked. The bulb is somewhat fibrous but is very acceptable as a flavouring in soups and stews. The bulb is fairly large, up to 5cm in diameter, and is produced in clusters. The plant has thick iris-like rhizomes. Leaves – raw or cooked. Flowers – raw. Used as a garnish on salads.(3)
Medicinal Uses :Although no specific mention of medicinal uses has been seen for this species, members of this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system.(4)
Foot Notes: (1) http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ALVA
Foot Notes: (2, 3, 4 ) http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+validum
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#147(w)
Common Name: Wild Garlic, Crow Garlic (Allium vineale )
Appearance and Habitat: Bulbs 5–20, clustered, stipitate, hard-shelled, asymmetric, ovoid, 1–2 × 1–2 cm; outer coats enclosing bulbs, brownish to yellowish, membranous, vertically striate, splitting into parallel strips and fibers, cells arranged in ± wavy rows, vertical; inner coats white to light brown, cells obscure, vertically elongate. Leaves persistent, green at anthesis, 2–4, sheathing at least proximal 1/2 scape; blade hollow below middle, terete, cylindric or filiform, not carinate, 20–60 cm × 2–4 mm, margins entire. Scape persistent, solitary, erect, terete, 30–120 cm × 1.5–4 mm. Umbel persistent, erect, ± compact, 0–50-flowered, subglobose to ovoid or hemispheric, flowering pedicels all or in part replaced by bulbils; bulbils sessile, basally narrowed, 4–6 × 2–3 mm; spathe bract caducous, 1, 2–several-veined, ovate, apex caudate, beaked, beak ± equaling or longer than base. Flowers campanulate, 3–4 mm; tepals erect, greenish to purple, elliptic-lanceolate, ± equal, withering in fruit, margins entire, apex obtuse; stamens exserted, outer 3 filaments without appendages, inner 3 filaments with 2 prominent lateral appendages; anthers purple; pollen white; ovary crestless; style exserted, linear, ± equaling stamen; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; flowering pedicel 10–20 mm. Seed coat shining; cells smooth. Flowering Jun–Aug. Disturbed areas often adjacent to agricultural lands; 0–700 m; introduced; Ont., Que.; Ala., Ark., Calif., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind. Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.; Europe. Allium vineale is also expected to be found in Wisconsin and Texas; specimens were not seen. It is a noxious weed, apparently introduced from Europe in colonial times. The small, wheat-sized bulbils frequently contaminated wheat grown in infested areas. Bread made from such wheat was garlic-flavored, and cows grazing in infested pastures produce garlic-flavored milk.(1) Fields and roadsides to elevations of 450 meters in Britain, often a serious weed of pastures. Much of Europe, including Britain, to N. Africa and Lebanon. A bulb growing to 0.6 m (2ft) by 0.1 m (0ft 4in). It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf 8-Oct It is in flower from Jun to July, and the seeds ripen from Aug to September.(2)
Edible Uses:Leaves – raw or cooked. Rather stringy, they are used as a garlic substitute. The leaves are available from late autumn until the following summer, when used sparingly they make a nice addition to the salad bowl. Bulb – used as a flavouring. Rather small, with a very strong flavour and odour. The bulbs are 10 – 20mm in diameter. Bulbils – raw or cooked. Rather small and fiddly, they have a strong garlic-like flavour.(3)
Medicinal Uses :The whole plant is antiasthmatic, blood purifier, carminative, cathartic, diuretic, expectorant, hypotensive, stimulant and vasodilator. A tincture is used to prevent worms and colic in children, and also as a remedy for croup. The raw root can be eaten to reduce blood pressure and also to ease shortness of breath. Although no other specific mention of medicinal uses has been seen for this species, members of this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system.(4)
Foot Notes: (1) http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101415
Foot Notes: (2, 3, 4 ) http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Allium+vineale
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Bonus : ( Before leaving Onions, Leeks, and Garlic behind, I have some data on another species. Sorry it is out of alphabetical Order.)
#147(x)
Common Name: Scytheleaf Onion, Indian Garlic (Allium falcifolium )
Native American Name: Podzimo (Shoshone)(1)
Appearance and Habitat: A very low wild onion with two thick, flat leaves only slightly exceeding the 3-5 in. flowering stems in height. Small umbels of deep rose to nearly white flowers top the flowering stems.(2) In the high mountains on dry rocky plains grows the dwarf pink garlic. It has blue-green sickle-shaped leaves, flat, and a pretty flower. The bulb is also a deep pink color and is very strong to the taste. (3)(meaning it is edible)
Foot Notes: (1, 3) Indian Uses of Native Plants by Edith Van Murphy, page 14, Publisher: Meyerbooks, Copyright 1990, ISBN 0-96638-15-4
Foot Notes: (2) http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ALFA3
