General Details
Dakota Name:
Pṡiƞ
Scientific Name:
Allium sp.
Alternate Names:
Autumn onion, pink wild onion, prairie wild onion, textile onion
Height:
Grows 4 - 18 inches
Flowers:
Tiny, white to pinkish purple, with 6 slender petals, in round clusters resembling pom-poms. Blooms August
to September.
Fruit:
Capsule with chambers containing tiny, round, black seeds.
Habitat:
Prairies, rocky areas and along roadsides.
Plant Characteristics
A perennial with papery bracts below flower clusters that have 1 vein. Tiny bulbs in flower clusters are only rarely produced. Leaves are flat in cross-section, and solid, arising from near plant base and with stalks arising from a common point above obvious bracts. Has an onion odor.
Dakota Cultural Use
All the species of wild onion found within Dakota habitat were used for food by the tribes, harvested commonly in the spring and eaten raw and fresh as a relish, sometimes cooked as a flavor for meat and soup, also fried. They were also used for heart health and detoxifying the blood. Cooking or drying wild onion is best as eating it raw can be hard on some people’s stomachs.