Wild Onions: What's in a Name?

Orthography varies on the original Potawatomi name for the Chicago, Illinois area; common variants for the form from which the city derives its present-day name -- Chicago -- include Eschikagou and Checaugou. The translation or implied significance of this word also runs a gamut: "skunk cabbage", "garlic", "great/great one". One of the most common translations, and arguably the most compelling, is "wild onion" or "wild onions".

Related to lilies, wild onions grow in "loose moist soil" and have a ritual significance to many Native American peoples (see: cherokee.org). The "onions" described by early missionaries in the Chicago area might have been leeks, meadow garlic, or nodding onions; so common was the latter that it "tinged [the landscape] with pink… in midsummer"(see: Forest Preserve of Cook County, Nature Bulletin #184). These varieties of hardy, savory vegetation make a worthy landscape mascot for the Chicago region today. Used in both culinary and medicinal recipes, they invoke the untamed richness of the wilderness, and the strength, perseverance, and character of its inhabitants.