Description: The Nodding Onion is part of the lily family and smells as a onion in our kitchen would. The stem can be anywhere from 10 to 50 cm in length with small flowers clustered at the top in an umbrella- like head.
Habitat: The Nodding Onion does well in dry, open woods and on exposed grassy slopes.
Aboriginal Use: It was habit to mark the location of the flowers in the spring by planting a stick in the ground and returning in the fall to dig up the bulbs. The onions were used either as a flavor in cooking, or would be dried by stringing them together, pressing them into thin cakes or simply laying them out on mats. The dried onions could then be used at a later time and reconstituted by soaking them in water.
WARNING: Onion bulbs can be confused with Death Camas. Though similar in appearance, a distinction between the two is the characteristic smell of onion odour in the nodding onion.