Allium canadense L. var. mobilensis (Regel) Ownbey, mobile wild onion. Allium canadense var. mobilensis — MOBILE WILD ONION [Alliaceae/Liliaceae] Perennial herb, geophytic, bulb–bearing, lacking rhizomes, fibrous–rooted, ± rosetted, scapose, in range spreading to erect, 30—45 cm tall; shoots with only basal leaves from bulb, at least 2 least per shoot, glabrous; bulb ovoid, in range < 6—9 mm diameter, outer cover persisting as tough brown, fibrous reticulum; bulbils absent, bulblets not observed; adventitious roots on lower side of bulb from platelike stem.
Stems (scapes) cylindric, < 250—550 × 1.5—4.5 mm, green; solid.
Leaves helically alternate, simple with sheath; sheath closed, barely extending above soil surface, persistent; blade spreading, linear and in range concave (troughlike), 200—350+ mm long, to 4 mm wide (6 mm wide when flattened), green, entire, long–tapered to tip.
Inflorescence umbel, terminal on scape, hemispheric, in range 30+–flowered (including tiny undeveloped flower buds), umbel (30—)45—55 mm across, with many flowers open at the same time, bracteate, glabrous; bracts subtending umbel and initially covering emerging buds 3, fused and whorled, 10—15 mm long, aging scarious and splitting downward into 3 fine–tipped, papery segments, white with several inconspicuous parallel veins; bractlet subtending pedicel mostly absent but minute at bases of some pedicels, slender and papery, < 5 mm long; pedicel distinctly slender (filiform), 10—26 × 0.4—0.6 mm, in each umbel mixed in lengths but always >> flower, green to purplish and somewhat glaucous; receptacle lower side glaucous.
Flower bisexual, radial, 7—12 mm across, star–shaped; in range fragrance not detected; tepals 6 in 2 whorls, fused in a ring and with stamen bases, monomorphic, widely spreading, of outer whorl acute–ovate, in range 4.5—5.4 × 1.8—2 mm, of inner whorl obovate–elliptic, 4.3—4.5 × 1.4—1.7 mm (narrower and shorter) and acute to obtuse at tip, lilac (not pink) with fine midstripe; stamens 6, fused to bases of tepals; filaments 3 mm long, white, of outer tepals long–tapered, of inner tepals wide–flaring at base; anthers dorsifixed, dithecal, 0.9—1.1 mm, anthers rose–purple to dark rose, longitudinally dehiscent, those opposite outer tepals dehiscing last; pollen pale yellow; nectary beneath ovary and concealed by stamen bases, producing a bead of nectar at inner base of each filament; pistil 1; ovary superior, ± hemispheroid slightly 3–lobed, 1.2—1.3 × 0.5 mm, white blushed lilac on lobes, lacking crests, with faint suture, 3–chambered, each chamber with 1 ovule; style erect, 1.5 mm long, white, acute at tip, with stigma below anthers.
Fruit capsule, loculicidal, dehiscent by 3 valves, 2—3–seeded, before dehiscing 3–lobed at top, 3.5—4 mm across, valves spreading.
Seed 3–sided, ca. 2 ×1.8 mm, black, rounded on back, flat on lateral sides.
A. C. Gibson