Hunting and Collecting Native Allium in the Western United States

North America is rich in native Allium genetic resources with approximately 87 native species described and is considered a secondary center of genetic diversity for the genus.   The majority of those species (57) occur in the west.  As with the old world species like garlic, A. sativum, onion, A.  cepa,  golden garlic, A. moly or A. stipitatum, North American native Alliums have a long history of use as  food, medicine and ornamentals.  Of the 87 native North American Allium species, bulbs, leaves, or seed of 25 are reported as being used for food, spice or as a medicinal for a wide range of conditions by native peoples.  The USDA-ARS Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research Unit, Pullman, WA maintains the National Plant Germplasm System wild Allium collection.  We have worked with a number of native Allium species, A. fibrillum, A. columbianum, and A. douglasii in Washington, A. schoenprasum in Montana, but the majority of work has been with A. acuminatum from the Great Basin: collecting, conducting common garden studies, developing seed zones and cultural parameters for scalable seed production.