Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Allium crispum is a species of wild onion known by the common name crinkled onion. It is endemic to California, USA, where it grows along the Central Coast, often in clays and serpentine soils. This onion grows from a bulb one to one and a half centimeters wide and sends up naked green stems topped with flower clusters of many flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flowers are magenta in color and have six triangular petals. The inner three petals are smaller and crinkled like cloth and may curl under.

Plant type

Perennial herb, Geophyte

Calscape icon
Color

Pink

Flowering season

Spring

Sun

Full Sun

Water

Moderate

Soil drainage

Slow

Propagation

For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Sunset Zones

7, 14, 15, 16

Site type

Clay slopes

Plant communities

Foothill Woodland, Valley Grassland

Bats
Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 13 likely

Confirmed Likely

Ipsilon Dart

Agrotis ipsilon

The Nutmeg

Anarta trifolii

Alfalfa Looper Moth

Autographa californica