Amaryllis Family – Amaryllidaceae
Actual flower size 1/2 inch long
Fragile Onion is also called Scilla-like Onion.
Plant Description: Fragile Onion has a 2 inch-long stem, flattened and two-edged, with 2 or 3 ovate bracts below a few to several-flowered umbels. The pedicels are thick and about as long as the tepals. It has two flat leaves, recurved and much longer than the flowering stem.
Flower Description: The flowers are 1/2 inch across. The 6 tepals are 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, white or pink becoming red, elliptic with a strongly thickened mid-rib. The 6 stamen are shorter than the tepals with purple or brown anthers and the stigma are 3-lobed.
Ecology: Fragile Onion grows in dry, barren gravely soils in the shrub steppe of eastern Washington.
Note: Fragile Onion has been moved from the Lily Family to the Amaryllis Family. See “APG Changes” page.
Fragile Onion Photo Gallery