Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)
Gitxsan name: ts'anksa gaak (means ravens' underarm odor)
Wet'wuet'en name: tlo' ilhtsin
Botanical Description
- perennial, slender stems from oval, tapering, faintly pink coated
clustered bulbs, up to 50 cm tall, smell strongly of onion
- several grasslike leaves per bulb that remain green during flowering
- pink to rose-purple flowers that are numerous, bell-shaped, arranged in
nodding, umbrella-shaped cluster
- found in dry open woods and exposed grassy places, rocky crevices, sandy
soils, often with Douglas fir
- low elevations
Photo courtesy of Adolf Ceska (53kB)
Ethnobotanical Description
Harvested before flowering, the nodding onion was eaten raw, with the
leaves, or the entire plant boiled with meat or fish in a stew. They could also be dried
for later use, such as flavoring other foods. The Gitxsan say that moose meat from
the upper Kispiox valley is naturally flavored with wild onion.
CAUTION: Wild onion bulbs can be confused with
those of death-camas, but the latter do not have an onion odor.
This digital collection was produced under contract to the SchoolNet
Digital Collection Program, Industry Canada.
Revised: 08/21/98
