I decided to go with the common name Canada onion, even though it seems to be less common. However, as the Latin name literally has “canadense” in it, I will stick with Canada onion. Other common names are typical of onion species, such as wild onion, wild garlic, etc. At least it’s not also called ramps. So Canada onion is typical of onion species, a perennial herbaceous plant that typically grows in moist habitats, both woodland and open field. Unfortunately in shaded areas, it often does not flower, but produces aerial bulblets instead. They are easy to propagate, but not as pretty.
Canada onion is an important flower for native pollinators rather than the invasive European honeybee. Although I found no caterpillars listed that use Canada onion as a host plant, it is food for many animals as well as larvae of Green Stink Bug (Acrosternum hilaris), the Onion Plant Bug (Lindbergocapsus allii), the False Japanese Beetle (Strigoderma arbicola), the Onion Maggot (Delia antiqua), the Black Onion Fly (Tritoxa flava), larvae of the Onion Bulb Fly (Eumerus strigatus), and Onion Thrips (Thrips tabaci), thus they play an important role in the ecosystem.
Canada onions look somewhat like the invasive wild onion Allium vineale, so make sure not to plant the invasive in a garden, but you can certainly harvest it wild and eat it. Why settlers felt the need to bring onions from Europe when we have so many great ones, I do not know, but they are here for good.
Some advice that I read is that they can be confused with deathcamas, a group of plants that look somewhat similar to onions, though lack the distinctive smell. As the name implied, deathcamas should never be eaten. That said, looking at pictures of them, I don’t think I would confuse them with onions, but just make sure you don’t.