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Wild garlic's flower stalk holds a 1-2" wide inflorescence surrounded by 2-3 bracts; the bracts dry to a papery, off-white membrane tapering to a long point that contains flower buds on a pedicle, bulblets without pedicles, or both. When open, the flowers (~1/2" across) are each elevated on a 3/4" pedicle and exhibit six white, light pink or pink, sharply pointed tepals (= petals + sepals), six stamens, and a central light green ovary with a single style. Allium canadense is the most common Allium here; it can be distinguished from other native species by the presence of the aerial bulblets. The other common species in Jackson Park (nodding onion, Allium cernuum) is easily distinguished by the "nodding" of the entire inflorescence. (Neither of these is the "wild onion" Chicago is named for; that is Allium tricoccum.)

Allium

Allium canadense

wild garlic [Blooms: Jun-?]

Nodding onion's flower stalks are 12-18" tall, smooth, nearly vertical, and bend 180° at their tips (like a shepherd's crook); the ~2" wide flower cluster hangs below. Each of the 40-60 flowers hangs from a 1/2-1" hairless pedicel; each white, light pink, or light lavender flower has six tepals (three true petals and three similar-appearing sepals), six stamens (with yellow anthers) that extend well beyond the petals, and a single ovary with a style at least as long as the stamens. This is our only wild onion that "nods" so should be easy to identify. It's very popular with bees.

Allium

Allium cernuum

nodding onion [Blooms: Jul/Aug–?]

Wild leeks (Allium tricoccum) (a.k.a., "ramps") is an herbaceous native perennial found in the north-east quarter of the U.S. and the eastern provinces of Canada. It is most common in moist hardwood forests but is threatened by over-harvesting. It is listed as "Vulnerable in Illinois" [https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.138691/Allium_tricoccum_var_tricoccum]. In early spring, the bulb of a wild leek produces 2-3 leaves that are each 4-9" long and 1.5-3.5" across with petioles that are reddish to maroon, hairless, and wrapped in a sheath basally. The leaves wither by early summer (before flowering). Later (early to mid-summer) the bulb produces a naked flower stalk 6-18" tall; the stalk is hairless, circular in section, and pale green to maroon with a papery sheath at its base. At the apex of the stalk is a single, spherical umbel, 1-2" across, of 20-40 white flowers, with a pair of bracts at the base of the umbel when fresh. Individual flowers are about 1/4" across; the flowers contain six white to translucent tepals (6-7 mm long, three with a reddish tip); a light green to pale yellow ovary; six, 6 mm long, stamens with pale yellow anthers that extend beyond the tips of the tepals; and a single, white 3-4 mm long style that extends past the three lobes of the ovary but not beyond the anthers. The stigma tiny and spherical. Fertilized flowers produce a three-celled seed capsule, each cell containing a single globoid seed that turns glossy black at maturity. Wild leeks are denizens of hardwood forests with rich, loamy soils. The leaves and bulbs are edible, but you really shouldn't — this plant depends on only a couple of weeks of photosynthesis to produce its leaves and flowers and is highly vulnerable to overexploitation by humans. If you see one of these plants, smile and know that you have been blessed. Then walk away.

Allium

Allium tricoccum

wild leeks [Blooms: Jun?]