Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Small

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Bulbs

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A slender spring wildflower resembling a wild onion, with grass-like basal leaves and clusters of small star-shaped white flowers atop a bare stalk. Despite the onion-like look, it lacks the characteristic garlic smell when crushed, a key trait that separates it from true wild onions and gives rise to its ominous common name.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Asparagales

Family

Amaryllidaceae

Genus

Nothoscordum

Species

Nothoscordum bivalve