I walked down to the meadow on Lego Bay this afternoon and saw a few wildflowers. This is Nodding Onion. Named as such because of its drooping head which sways and bobs in the breeze. The cluster of pink flowers are not quite open yet. Give it two more days and that bobbing head will look like a fancy pink chandelier.
You can tell it’s an onion if you crush the stem of one. It has a lovely, sweet onion smell. It also has a very delicate onion taste and is not strong at all.
The Nodders like open meadows along the shore and are persistent even when someone mows them down. When Jerry Anderson let his grass grow a bit on the shore side of the road, Nodders would pop up among the driftwood close to the road.
A little later on we will see Hookers onions with a large, ball shaped cluster of flowers. The bulbs of both onions were used as food and also were used to treat various stomach maladies according to Lewis and Clark.
Dal Neitzel