"Pregnant Onion": Two Plants, One Confusing Name

"Pregnant onion" refers to two completely different plants—one edible, one ornamental.

1. Multiplier Onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum)

• Edible perennial onion forming clusters of small bulbs around a "mother" bulb.
• Also called "potato onion" or "hill onion."
• Divide and replant bulblets annually.

2. Ornithogalum caudatum (False Sea Onion)

• Succulent houseplant, NOT edible—toxic if ingested.
• Large above-ground bulb produces "bulblets" on its shoulders, resembling pregnancy.
• Related to Star-of-Bethlehem (O. umbellatum), a common lawn weed.
• Grown for curiosity; long strappy leaves, tall flower spikes.

Which Do You Have?

If it's a houseplant with a huge, semi-exposed bulb making babies on its sides—it's Ornithogalum. If it's in the vegetable garden forming shallot-like clusters—it's multiplier onion. Never eat a houseplant "pregnant onion."