Allium cernuum
 
Nodding Onion

Inflorescence Side, in Ground

West Block, Cypress Hills
23-July-2006

Note how the peduncle is curved just below the umbel, creating the nodding effect.  Also note the spathe, divided into two translucent bracts.

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Cernuum:  Answers to key questions leading to this species, from Lilies, Irises & Orchids of Saskatchewan by Vernon L. Harms and Anna L. Leighton. The answers are in the order you would normally work through the key.
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Umbels less compact, +/- hemispheric; flowers white or pink; pedicels as long as or much longer than the flowers; stems solid (not hollow); leaf blades solid, channelled, flat to somewhat round in cross-section; anthers yellow, pollen yellow.  NOT [Umbels compact, nearly spherical; flowers pale purple to deep lilac; pedicels shorter than the flowers; stems hollow; leaf blades hollow, round in cross-section; anthers purple, pollen white.]

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Stamens and style longer than the perianth; appendages on capsule +/- triangular, conspicuous (up to 1 mm long); tepals withering in fruit,  the midrib visible but not thickened; outer bulb coat membranous, if fibers present, they are remains of nerves and parallel to each other rather than part of a network of fibers.  NOT [Stamens and style shorter than perianth; appendages on capsule rounded, inconspicuous (<0.3 mm long); tepals persisting in fruit and permanently enveloping capsule, the midribs becoming thick; outer bulb coat a network of fibers.]

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Flowers bell-shaped; tepals +/- erect, mostly white to lightly pinkish (in Saskatchewan, but often darker rose farther west); outer tepal tips usually obtuse or rounded, inner tepal tips narrower; tip of scape distinctly curved downward or sideways at anthesis; pedicels slender, flexuous or loosely arched; bulbs elongate, grading into the base of the stem; leaves often over 3 (to 8) mm broad.  NOT [Flowers star-shaped; tepals spreading, deep rose or pink (rarely almost white);  tepal tips acute; tip of scape usually erect (the inflorescence sometimes nodding in bud, but usually becoming erect by flowering time); pedicels long, firm, straight to scarcely arching; bulbs ovoid, distinctly wider than the base of the stem; leaves to 3.6 mm broad.]

 
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Allium: Answers to key questions leading to this genus, from Lilies, Irises & Orchids of Saskatchewan by Vernon L. Harms and Anna L. Leighton.  The answers are in the order you would normally work through the key.
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Flowers terminal, either single or grouped in an umbel, raceme or panicle.  NOT [Flowers axillary, suspended on delicate stalks from leaf axils, either singly or in few-flowered clusters (leaves small and scale-like in Asparagus).]

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Flowers several-to-many in an umbel, raceme or panicle.  NOT [Flowers single (occasionally Hypoxis has a single flower but it is unique in having an inferior ovary)]

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Inflorescence an umbel.  NOT [Inflorescence a raceme or panicle.]

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Leaves basal, long, narrow, grass-like.  NOT [Leaves cauline, linear to lanceolate or ovate, not grass-like.]

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Umbels usually with more than seven flowers; plants with bulbs; ovary superior; plants with onion odour.  NOT [Umbels with at most seven flowers; plants with corms; ovary inferior; plants lacking onion odour]

 

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Liliaceae: Answers to key questions leading to this family, from Lilies, Irises & Orchids of Saskatchewan by Vernon L. Harms and Anna L. Leighton . 
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Ovary positioned above the attachment point of the other flower parts (ovary superior) or with the other parts attached partway up the ovary wall (ovary partly inferior) or, if ovary positioned below the attachment point (ovary inferior), then stamen number 6 (Hypoxis); stamens 3 or 6 (rarely 4); fruit a capsule or berry.  NOT [Ovary positioned below the attachment point of the other flower parts (ovary inferior); stamens 1-3; fruit a capsule.]