Allium praecox

Bulbs 1-3, increase bulbs absent or ± equaling parent bulbs, never appearing as basal cluster, not clustered on stout primary rhizome, ovoid to globose, 1-1.8 × 1-1.7 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, gray-brown to brown, prominently cellular-reticulate, membranous, cells arranged in ± vertical rows, forming irregular herringbone pattern, transversely elongate, V-shaped, without fibers; inner coats white, cells obscure, ± transversely elongate, contorted. Leaves persistent, withering from tip by anthesis, 2-3, basally sheathing, sheaths not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, flat, broadly channeled, carinate, 20-75 cm × 5-10 mm, margins entire. Scape persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 20-60 cm × 2-4 mm. Umbel shattering after seeds mature, each flower deciduous with its pedicel as a unit, erect, loose, 5-40-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 5-7-veined, lanceolate to lance-ovate, ± equal, apex acuminate. Flowers stellate, 6-13 mm; tepals spreading at anthesis, white to pale pink with purple midveins, lance-ovate to ovate, ± equal, becoming papery and connivent over capsule, margins entire, apex acute, obtuse, or emarginate; stamens included; anthers purple and yellow; pollen yellow; ovary crested; processes 3, central, 2-lobed, minute, margins entire; style linear, equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; pedicel 15-40 mm. Seed coat shining; cells minutely roughened. 2n = 14.

Flowering Mar--May. Clay soil on shaded, grassy slopes near coast; 50--800 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).