Search / Plant Profile / Allium hickmanii

Plant Profile

Hickman's Onion (Allium hickmanii)

Photo Credit: Nhu Nguyen

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Liliaceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 154189
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 06/01/2017

Description:

Allium hickmanii is a rare species of wild onion known by the common name Hickman's onion. It is native to Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties in California Allium hickmanii grows from a pale brown or gray bulb, about a centimeter long, and produces a stem up to 17 centimeters tall. It typically has two cylindrical leaves that are longer than the stem. The inflorescence holds up to about 15 white or pinkish flowers each less than a centimeter long.

Where is Hickman's Onion (Allium hickmanii) located in the wild?

Habitat:

A hickmanii lives in coastal prairies, chaparral, northern coastal scrub, coastal sage scrub, closed-cone pine forests, and valley grassland.

Distribution:

Allium hickmanii is native to Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties in California

States & Provinces:

Hickman's Onion can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Hickman's Onion (Allium hickmanii)?

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/13/17

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

Not Sponsored

Assigned 12/12/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

09/01/2020

Based on an September 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden holds 2 accessions of Allium hickmanii in orthodox seed collection. There are as many as 679 seeds of this species in their collection - although some may have been used for curation testing or sent to back up.

08/05/2020

Based on an August 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has collected 2 seed accessions of Allium hickmanii from 2 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass 169 maternal plants