Allium canadense L. var. canadense, canada garlic. Perennial herb, geophytic, bulb–forming, clonal via bulbils in the inflorescence replacing flowers, fibrous–rooted, upright–rosetted, inflorescence to 65 cm tall; shoots with to 6+ basal leaves arising from bulb, leaves somewhat fleshy and onionlike when crushed; bulb ovoid, to 25 × 6—30 mm, white, with outer leaf sheath enclosing 1+ bulbs when dry brownish or grayish; adventitious roots many from base of bulb; lacking bulblets in and around mother bulb. Stems (scapes).
Leaves alternate distichous, simple, sheath belowground (around bulb); sheath closed, to 120 mm above bulb, when fresh colorless and membranous, parallel–veined, with vertically elongate cells; blade (aboveground) linear to strap–shaped, to 480 × 3—12 mm above closed sheath, green and somewhat glaucous, flat to slightly curved upward, entire, acute to obtuse at tip, parallel–veined, smooth.
Inflorescence umbel–like, terminal on erect to ascending scape, when having to 60 flowers hemispheric, or with fewer flowers and asexual bulbils, bracteate, glabrous; peduncle (scape) suberect, cylindric, to 600 × 5.5 mm, green and somewhat glaucous, solid; bract subtending umbel closed round top of peduncle and sheathlike with 3 points, splitting downward into 3 segments to 40 mm long, membranous with ca. 15 parallel veins; bractlet subtending pedicel slender, membranous, and vestigial; pedicel ascending, straight, in range to 20 mm long, green often somewhat glaucous.
Flower bisexual, radial, ± 5 mm across; tepals 6 in 2 whorls, whorls close, bases not overlapped, of outer whorl elliptic to elliptic–ovate or elliptic–obovate, 6.6—7.1 × 3.3—3.6 mm, white often with raised, greenish midvein, obtuse to rounded at tip; of inner whorl elliptic, 6.6—7.1 × 2.7—3.1 mm, white with midvein green only at base, rounded at tip; stamens 6, fused in short ring to bases of inner tepals; filaments broad at base gradually tapered to top, 3.5—4 mm long, white, flattened front–to–back, glabrous; anthers versatile, dithecal, ca. 1.2 mm long, whitish, longitudinally dehiscent; pollen white; pistil 1, 5.6—6.2 mm long; ovary superior, cupcake–shaped and 3–lobed , ca. 2 × 3 mm, green, depressed in center at top, with nectary patches at base, 3–chambered; style cylindric, 4 × 0.4 mm, white, glabrous, with 3 minute, terminal stigmas.
Fruit usually not present but replaced by bulbils, bulbils 9+ per umbel mostly basal and densely clustered with several flower–bearing pedicels arising through the cluster, bulbil forming axillary to bractlet, ovoid to ellipsoid, initially 10—11 × 4—5 mm, glossy reddish, blunt acute at tip; bulbils sometimes sprouting with slender green leaf emerging from split bract, leaves to 70 × 1.5 mm, obtuse at tip.
A. C. Gibson