Allium acuminatum Hook.

vernacular tapertip onion — species · Liliaceae

USDA: ALAC4
GBIF: 2856154
Rank: species

tapertip onion (Allium acuminatum) — Platephotograph · sarahifelixCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Liliaceae Juss.
Genus: Allium

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 13 counties across 2 states/territories

Legend Native · 13 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: High
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -28 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 120 min.
Precipitation: 10–60 in/yr
pH range: 6–8
Root depth: 6 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 1 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Porous
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Purple
Fruit colour: Black
Fire resistant: Yes
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Rapid
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 253,691
Propagation: seed, container, bulb

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Contracting Only
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 13 counties across 2 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 8 N ▾

Montana view state ↗ 5 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ALAC4 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2856154 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T03:31:52Z