Allium cepa (PROSEA Medicinal plants)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

cv. group Aggregatum: 1, flowering plants; 2, inflorescence; 3, mature bulbs (Iskak Syamsudin)

Allium cepa L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 300 (1753).

Vernacular names

• Onion, common onion, shallot onion (En).
• Echalote, oignon (Fr).
• Brunei: bawang besar
• Indonesia: bawang merah, bawang beureum, bawang bombay
• Malaysia: bawang merah, bawang kecil, bawang besar
• Papua New Guinea: lip anian, anian (Pidgin)
• Philippines: sibuyas tagalog (Tagalog), bauang pula (Tagalog), lasona (Iloko)
• Cambodia: khtüm krâhââm, khtüm barang
• Laos: hoom bwàx, bwàx fàlangx
• Thailand: hom farang, hom-yai (central), hom-huayai (peninsular)
• Vietnam: hành tây, hành củ, hành tăm

Distribution

Probably originating from central Asia, but nowhere truly wild. Cultivated all over the world; cv. group Aggregatum (shallot) predominates in the tropical lowland of South-East Asia, but cv. group Common Onion is grown in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Thailand.

Uses

Onion plays an important role in traditional medicine; it is used as diuretic and suppresses the blood sugar level and platelet aggregation. Shallot is used traditionally as febrifuge and as a poultice to cure wounds. In the Philippines the bulbs are considered anthelmintic and stomachic, and used to treat diarrhoea, headache, earache and amenorrhoea. Shallot stimulates the appetite.

Observations

• A biennial herb, usually grown as an annual, up to 100 cm tall; mature bulb up to 15 cm in diameter.
• Leaves 3-8, blades semiterete, at first solid, later becoming hollow, glaucous; scape 1-several, terete, often inflated in the middle or in the lower part, hollow.
• Inflorescence with up to 2000 flowers; flowers with greenish-white to purplish tepals, stamens sometimes slightly exceeding tepals, style shorter than stamens at anthesis.
• Fruit 4-6 mm in diameter, containing up to 6 seeds; seeds about 3 mm × 2 mm.

In cv. group Common Onion the bulbs are large and normally single, and plants reproduce from seed or from seed-grown bulbils; in cv. group Aggregatum (shallot) the bulbs are smaller, several to many forming an aggregated cluster, and plants reproduce vegetatively via lateral bulbs.

Selected sources

• Ariga, T. & Kase, H., 1986. Composition of essential oils of the genus Allium and their inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation. Bulletin of the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine of Nihon University 43: 170-175. (in Japanese)
• Bruneton, J., 1995. Pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, medicinal plants. Technique & Documentation Lavoisier, Paris, France. 915 pp.
• Buijsen, J.R.M., 1993. Alliaceae. In: Kalkman, C., Kirkup, D.W., Nooteboom, H.P., Stevens, P.F. & de Wilde, W.J.J.O. (Editors): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 11. Rijksherbarium/Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, the Netherlands. pp. 375-384.
• de Padua, L.S., Lugod, G.C. & Pancho, J.V., 1977-1983. Handbook on Philippine medicinal plants. 4 volumes. Documentation and Information Section, Office of the Director of Research, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the Philippines.
• Hänsel, R. et al. (Editors), 1992. Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutishe Praxis [Hagers handbook of the practice of pharmacology]. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1209 pp.
• Morimitsu, Y. & Kawakishi, S., 1990. Inhibitors of platelet aggregation from onion. Phytochemistry 29: 3435-3439.
• Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• Siemonsma, J.S. & Kasem Piluek (Editors), 1993. Plant Resources of South East Asia No 8. Vegetables. Pudoc Scientific Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands. 412 pp.
• Teuscher, E., 1990. Pharmaceutische Biologie [Pharmaceutical Biology]. 4th Edition. Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn., Braunschweig, Wiesbaden, Germany. 664 pp.

Main genus page

• Allium

Authors

• Diah Sulistiarini, Juliasri Djamal & Iman Raharjo