Alliaceae -- Onions and Garlic
Wild Onion, Wild Garlic -- Allium species –
Habitat: Woodland areas, open fields, roadsides, old homesteads.
Characteristics: Slender, thick grassy leaves; inflorescence of many small white or pink flowers on a tall stalk. Bulblets or seed pods follow flowers, or may be present with flowers still in bloom. Small, white bulbs. Entire plant smells of garlic or onions.
Primary uses: Use the bulbs and leaves of all species in any recipe calling for onions. You can even use the bulblets that top the stalks of the wild garlic. The wild onions and garlic have a stronger flavor than cultivated varieties, so use them sparingly.
Nutritional value: Medicinally, onions and garlic have a number of uses. The plants supply a natural antiseptic and contain high levels of vitamin C.
Collection and storage: Clip leaves and flowers, use fresh or dry. Bulblets and bulbs may be stored in a cool, dry place, or pickled. Entire plant may be dug up and used.
Caution: Take care when gathering wild onions and garlic, never use plants that lack the distinctive aroma of onions.
Wild Onion, Wild Garlic -- Allium canadense and other species –
It has smooth, flat leaves that can be used in place of chives, the young onions can be harvested and used the same way as you would green onions, and mature bulbs can be harvested to used the same as the yellow or white onions in the store. It produces clusters of small white flowers in the early spring which will become little bulblets. Each bulblet will form a new plant. The plant goes dormant in the summer and re-emerges in the fall.
Wild Onion, Wild Garlic -- Allium drummondii and other species –
Wild Garlic, Drummond's Onion, Drummond Wild Onion, Prairie Onion is the most widely distributed wild onion species in Texas growing natively in various soils and vegetative areas. The 3/4 inch wide blooms have tepals not petals, appear on a slender flower stem, are clustered in an umbel. They produce shiny black seeds. An asexual form produces tiny bulbets at the tips of the flower stalks. This species may be distinguished from Allium canadense by examining the underground bulbs. The outer covering of Allium drummondii bulbs are papery; wheras, Allium canadense bulbs have a criss-cross fiber-type coating surrounding them. Both smell oniony and both types of bulbs are edible. Just do not confuse them with crow-poison, false garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) which neither smells like garlic nor onion and is poisonous.
