Burke: Allium geyeri vs. Allium dictuon

	Allium geyeri	Allium dictuon
	Geyer's onion	Blue Mountain onion
Habit	Scapose perennial, usually from a cluster of ovoid bulbs enclosed in fibrous, outer coats with a coarse network pattern; scapes 1-5 dm. tall, nearly terete.	Scapose perennial from an obliquely ovoid bulb, with new bulbs developing outside the bulb coat; outer coat pale brown with a conspicuous, irregular, oblong or rhomboidal network pattern.
Leaves	Leaves usually 3 or more per scape, concave-convex in cross section, 1-5 mm. broad, usually shorter than the scape, green, becoming brown and persisting.	Leaves 2, linear, nearly flat, much shorter that the terete scape.
Flowers	Umbels 10- to 25-flowered, the pedicels equal in length, nearly twice the length of the perianth, becoming stiffly spreading in fruit; tepals 6, 6-8 mm. long, ovate to lanceolate, pink to rarely white; stamens 6, shorter than the tepals; ovary inconspicuously crested with 6 low, rounded knobs.	Umbel many-flowered, the pedicel 1-2 times as long as the tepals; tepals 6, 10-15 mm. long, bright pink, narrowly lanceolate, tapered and pointed, denticulate; stamens 6, about 2/3 the length of the tepals.
Fruits	Capsule 3-celled.	Capsule 3-celled, without a crest.

	Allium geyeri	Allium dictuon
Flowering time	May-June	June-July
Habitat	Low meadows and along streams.	Open, fairly dry, rocky areas at low to middle elevations.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern Vancouver Island to Arizona, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington, where endemic to Columbia County. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Threatened in Washington (WANHP)
Sibling taxa	A. acuminatum, A. amplectens, A. campanulatum, A. cernuum, A. columbianum, A. constrictum, A. crenulatum, A. dictuon, A. douglasii, A. fibrillum, A. macrum, A. nevii, A. robinsonii, A. schoenoprasum, A. scilloides, A. textile, A. tolmiei, A. validum, A. vineale	A. acuminatum, A. amplectens, A. campanulatum, A. cernuum, A. columbianum, A. constrictum, A. crenulatum, A. douglasii, A. fibrillum, A. geyeri, A. macrum, A. nevii, A. robinsonii, A. schoenoprasum, A. scilloides, A. textile, A. tolmiei, A. validum, A. vineale
Subordinate taxa	A. geyeri var. geyeri, A. geyeri var. tenerum
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Allium geyeri

Allium dictuon

Geyer's onion

Blue Mountain onion

Habit

Scapose perennial, usually from a cluster of ovoid bulbs enclosed in fibrous, outer coats with a coarse network pattern; scapes 1-5 dm. tall, nearly terete.

Scapose perennial from an obliquely ovoid bulb, with new bulbs developing outside the bulb coat; outer coat pale brown with a conspicuous, irregular, oblong or rhomboidal network pattern.

Leaves

Leaves usually 3 or more per scape, concave-convex in cross section, 1-5 mm. broad, usually shorter than the scape, green, becoming brown and persisting.

Leaves 2, linear, nearly flat, much shorter that the terete scape.

Flowers

Umbels 10- to 25-flowered, the pedicels equal in length, nearly twice the length of the perianth, becoming stiffly spreading in fruit;

tepals 6, 6-8 mm. long, ovate to lanceolate, pink to rarely white;

stamens 6, shorter than the tepals;

ovary inconspicuously crested with 6 low, rounded knobs.

Umbel many-flowered, the pedicel 1-2 times as long as the tepals;

tepals 6, 10-15 mm. long, bright pink, narrowly lanceolate, tapered and pointed, denticulate;

stamens 6, about 2/3 the length of the tepals.

Fruits

Capsule 3-celled.

Capsule 3-celled, without a crest.