Plummer's Onion

Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey

It was the American botanist Soreno Watson, who was on the receiving end of the Lemmon’s collections, that named the onion collected in the Huachuca Mountains to honor Sara Plummer Lemmon. He made no mistake who it honored by using her maiden name and thus the botanical Allium plummerae. Common names are Tanner’s Canyon onion, Plummer’s onion or around our place we call it Sara’s onion. I thought I had some photos of Sara’s onion taken at Onion Saddle in the Chiricahuas, but couldn’t find them. Why do I think they’re 35 mm slides? Well, instead I offer the cover…