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Description:
Flat rock onion is a perennial herb exhibiting an onion odor. The narrow, fleshy, grasslike leaves which number from 2 to 8 (mostly 4 to 5) originate from a small bulb exhibiting a fibrous coat or sheath. The leaves are 20 to 25 cm in length by approximately 2 mm in width. They are semicircular to flattened in cross-section exhibiting a prominent, broad, lengthwise groove on the inward side towards the leafless scape (flowering stalk). The leafless scape is round in cross-section terminating to an umbel (cluster or group) of 15 to 25 flowers. The flowers originate from a translucent, paper thin sheath found on other onion species. The sheath splits into three faintly single-veined bracts. The flowers exhibit three petals and three sepals, each being 5 to 6 mm in length. Both the petals and sepals are white to pinkish tinged, narrowly elliptic. The immature fruit are greenish in color and 3-lobed. The summit of each fruit exhibits an inconspicuous raised band between each lobe, forming a crest. The mature fruit is a capsule 3 to 4 mm in diameter with a flattened crest between the lobes. Flat rock onion flowers between the months of mid-May to mid-June with fruit developing from mid-June to mid-July (Patrick et. al. 1995).
Habitat:
Flat rock onion inhabits the seepy edges of vegetation mats on granitic outcrops. Common associate plant species may include broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus), sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa), Cuthbert onion (Allium cuthbertii), sunnybells (Schoenolirion croceum), and ragwort (Senecio tomentosus)(Patrick et. al. 1995).
Range:
Flat rock onion occurs in seepy edges of vegetation mats on granite outcrops in north central Georgia and on sandstone in the Little River Canyon area of northeastern Alabama (Patrick et. al., 1995).
References
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