Allium sanbornii is a North American species of wild onion known by the common name Sanborn's onion.[3] It is native to northern California and southwestern Oregon.[4] It grows in the serpentine soils of the southern Cascade Range and northern Sierra Nevada foothills.[5][6]

Allium sanbornii
Allium sanbornii var. congdonii[1]

Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Allioideae
Genus: Allium
Subgenus: A. subg. Amerallium
Species:
A. sanbornii
Binomial name
Allium sanbornii
Synonyms[3]

Allium sanbornii produces a reddish-brown bulb up to about 2.5 cm (1 in) long. Scape up to 60 cm (24 in) long, bearing a single cylindrical leaf which is about the same length. The umbel contains as many as 150 small flowers, each with tepals less than a centimeter long, pink to white with darker red midveins. Anthers are yellow or purple; pollen yellow or white.[6][7][8]

Varieties[3][9]
formerly included[3][10]
  • Allium sanbornii var. jepsonii Ownbey & Aase ex Traub, now called Allium jepsonii (Ownbey & Aase ex Traub) S.S.Denison & McNeal
  • Allium sanbornii var. tuolumnense Ownbey & Aase ex Traub, now called Allium tuolumnense (Ownbey & Aase ex Traub) S.S.Denison & McNeal

References

edit
  1. ^ photo of herbarium specimen at Jepson Herbarium, University of California @ Berkeley, collected in 2005 in Nevada County, California
  2. ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0".
  3. ^ a b c d Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  4. ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  5. ^ USDA Plants Profile
  6. ^ a b Flora of North America, Allium sanbornii
  7. ^ Jepson Manual Treatment
  8. ^ Wood, Alphonso. 1868. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 20(6): 171.
  9. ^ Calflora Taxon Report 229, Allium sanbornii Alph. Wood, Sanborn's onion
  10. ^ Denison, S.S. & McNeal, Dale W. 1989. Madroño 36(2): 127-128