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Persia. This plant appears in the bazar in Teheren as a vegetable<ref>Unger, F. ''U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt.'' 356. 1859. (''A. latifolium'')</ref> under the name of wolag. It also grows in the Alps. The whole of the young plant is considered a delicacy and is used as an addition to rice in a pilau<ref>''Ibid.''</ref>.
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== ''Allium ampeloprasum'' ==
Europe and the Orient. This is a hardy perennial, remarkable for the size of the bulbs. The leaves and stems somewhat resemble those of the leek<ref>Burr, F. ''Field, Gard. Veg.'' 124. 1863.</ref>. The peasants in certain parts of Southern Europe eat it raw and this is its only known use<ref>''Bon Jard.'' 414. 1882.</ref>.
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== ''Allium angulosum'' ==
Siberia. Called on the upper Yenisei ''mischei-tschesnok'', mouse garlic, and from early times collected and salted for winter use<ref>Pickering, C. ''Chron. Hist. Pls.'' 813. 1879.</ref>.
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== ''Allium ascalonicum'' ==
The bulbs are compound, separating into what are called cloves, like those of garlic, and are of milder flavor than other cultivated alliums. They are used in cookery as a seasoner in stews and soups, as also in a raw state; the cloves, cut into small sections, form an ingredient in French salads and are also sprinkled over steaks and chops. They make an excellent pickle. In China, the shallot is grown but is not valued as highly as is ''A. uliginosum''<ref>Smith, F. P. ''Contrib. Mat. Med. China'' 7. 1871.</ref>.
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== ''Allium canadense'' ==
North America. There is some hesitation in referring the tree onion of the garden to this wild onion. Loudon<ref>Loudon, J. C. ''Hort.'' 661. 1860.</ref> refers to it as "the tree, or bulb-bearing, onion, syn. Egyptian onion, ''A. cepa'', var. ''viviparium''; the stem produces bulbs instead of flowers and when these bulbs are planted they produce underground onions of considerable size and, being much stronger flavored than those of any other variety, they go farther in cookery." Booth<ref>Booth, W.B. ''Treas. Bot.'' 1:40. 1870.</ref> says, "the bulb-bearing tree onion was introduced into England from Canada in 1820 and is considered to be a vivaparous variety of the common onion, which it resembles in appearance. It differs in its flower-stems being surmounted by a cluster of small green bulbs instead of bearing flowers and seed." It is a peculiarity of ''A. canadense'' that it often bears a head of bulbs in the place of flowers; its flavor is very strong; it is found throughout northern United States and Canada. Mueller<ref>Mueller, F. ''Sel. Pls.'' 28 B. 1891.</ref> says its top bulbs are much sought for pickles of superior flavor. Brown<ref>Brown, R. ''Gard. Chron.'' 1320. 1868.</ref> says its roots are eaten by some Indians. In 1674, when Marquette<ref>Case ''Bot. Index'' 34. 1880.</ref> and his party journeyed from Green Bay to the present site of Chicago, these onions formed almost the entire source of food. The lumbermen of Maine often used the plant in their broths for flavoring. On the East Branch of the Penobscot, these onions occur in abundance and are bulb-producing on their stalks. They grow in the clefts of ledges and even with the scant soil attain a foot in height. In the lack of definite information, it may be allowable to suggest that the tree onion may be a hybrid variety from this wild species, or possibly the wild species improved by cultivation. The name, Egyptian onion, is against this surmise, while, on the other hand, its apparent origination in Canada is in its favor, as is also the appearance of the growing plants.
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== ''Allium cepa'' ==
The onion has been an inmate of British gardens, says McIntosh<ref>McIntosh, C. ''Book Gard.'' 2:31. 1855.</ref>, as long as they deserve the appellation. Chaucer<ref>Chaucer ''Prologue'' V 634. 1340.</ref>, about 1340, mentions them: "Wel loved he garleek, onyons and ek leekes."
Humboldt<ref>De Candolle, A. ''Geog. Bot.'' 2:829. 1855.</ref> says that the primitive Americans were acquainted with the onion and that it was called in Mexican ''xonacatl''. Cortez<ref>Ibid.</ref>, in speaking of the edibles which they found on the march to Tenochtitlan, cites onions, leeks and garlic. De Candollel Candolle<ref>De Candolle, A. ''Geog. Bot.'' 2:829. 1855.</ref> does not think that these names apply to the species cultivated in Europe. Sloane<ref>Ibid.</ref>, in the seventeenth century, had seen the onion only in Jamaica in gardens. The word ''xonacatl'' is not in Hernandez<ref>Ibid.</ref>, and Acosta <ref>Ibid.</ref> says expressly that the onions and garlics of Peru came originally from Europe. It is probable that onions were among the garden herbs sown by Columbus at Isabela Island in 1494, although they are not specifically mentioned. Peter Martyr <ref>Eden ''Hist. Trav.'' 1577.</ref> speaks of "onyons" in Mexico and this must refer to a period before 1526, the year of his death, seven years after the discovery of Mexico. It is possible that onions, first introduced by the Spaniards to the West Indies, had already found admittance to Mexico, a rapidity of adaptation scarcely impossible to that civilized Aztec race, yet apparently improbable at first thought.
Onions are mentioned by Wm. Wood<ref>Wood, W. ''New Eng. Prosp.'' 2:7. 1634.</ref>, 1629-33, as cultivated in Massachusetts; in 1648, they were cultivated in Virginia<ref>''Perf. Desc. Va.'' 4. 1649. Force Coll. Tracts 2:1838.</ref>; and were grown at Mobile, Ala., in 1775<ref>Romans ''Nat. Hist. Fla.'' 1:115. 1775.</ref>. In 1779, onions were among the Indian crops destroyed by Gen. Sullivan <ref>Conover, G. S. ''Early Hist. Geneva'' 47. 1879.</ref> near Geneva, N. Y. In 1806, McMahon <ref>McMahon, B. ''Amer. Gard. Col.'' 582. 1806. </ref> mentions six varieties in his list of American esculents. In 1828, the potato onion, ''A. cepa'', var. ''aggregatum'' G. Don, is mentioned by Thorburn <ref>Thorburn ''Cat.'' 1828.</ref> as a "vegetable of late introduction into our country." Burr <ref>Burr, F. ''Field, Gard. Veg.'' 129. 1863.</ref> describes fourteen varieties.
Vilmorin <ref>Vilmorin ''Les Pls. Potag.'' 51. 1883.</ref> describes sixty varieties, and there are a number of varieties grown in France which are not noted by him. In form, these may be described as flat, flattened, disc-form, spherical, spherical-flattened, pear-shaped, long. This last form seems to attain an exaggerated length in Japan, where they often equal a foot in length. In 1886, Kizo Tamari<ref>''Amer. Hort.'' Sept 10, 1886.</ref>, a Japanese commissioner to this country, says, "Our onions do not have large, globular bulbs. They are grown just like celery and have long, white, slender stalks." In addition to the forms mentioned above, are the top onion and the potato onion. The onion is described in many colors, such as white, dull white, silvery white, pearly white, yellowish-green, coppery-yellow, salmon-yellow, greenish-yellow, bright yellow, pale salmon, salmon-pink, coppery-pink, chamois, red, bright red, blood-red, dark red, purplish.
But few of our modem forms are noticed in the early botanies. The following synonymy includes all that are noted, but in establishing it, it must be noted that many of the figures upon which it is founded are quite distinct:
<center>VIII. The top onion.</center>
In 1587, Dalechamp records with great surprise an onion plant which bore small bulbs in the place of seed.
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== ''Allium cernuum'' ==
Europe and the Orient. According to Heldreich, it yields roots which are edible.
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== ''Allium obliquum'' ==
''Allium obliquum'' Linn. Siberia. From early times the plant has been cultivated on the Tobol as a substitute for garlic.
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== ''Allium odorum'' ==
Siberia. This onion is eaten as a vegetable in Japan.
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== ''Allium oleraceum'' ==
Europe. The young leaves are used in Sweden to flavor stews and soups or fried with other herbs and are sometimes so employed in Britain but are inferior to those of the cultivated garlic.
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== ''Allium porrum'' ==
The leek may vary considerably by culture and often attain a large size; one with the blanched portion a foot long and nine inches in circumference and the leaf fifteen inches in breadth and three feet in length has been recorded. Vilmorin described eight varieties in 1883 but some of these are scarcely distinct. In 1806, McMahon named three varieties among American garden esculents. Leeks are mentioned by Romans as growing at Mobile, Ala., in 1775 and as cultivated by the Choctaw Indians. The reference to leeks by Cortez is noticed under ''A. cepa'', the onion. The lower, or blanched, portion is the part generally eaten, and this is used in soups or boiled and served as asparagus. Buist names six varieties. The blanched stems are much used in French cookery.
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== ''Allium reticulatum'' ==
''Allium reticulatum'' Fras. North America. This is a wild onion whose root is eaten by the Indians.
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== ''Allium roseum'' ==
Mediterranean countries. According to Heldreich, this plant yields edible roots.
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== ''Allium rotundum'' ==
''Allium rotundum'' Linn. Europe and Asia Minor. The leaves are eaten by the Greeks of Crimea.
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== ''Allium rubellum'' ==
''Allium rubellum'' Bieb. Europe, Siberia and the Orient. The bulbs are eaten by the hill people of India and the leaves are dried and preserved as a condiment.
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== ''Allium sativum'' ==
The first mention of garlic in America is by Peter Martyr, who states that Cortez fed on it in Mexico. In Peru, Acosta says "the Indians esteem garlike above all the roots of Europe." It was cultivated by the Choctaw Indians in gardens before 1775 and is mentioned among garden esculents by American writers on gardening in 1806 and since. The plant has the well-known alliaceous odor which is strongly penetrating, especially at midday. It is not as much used by northern people as by those of the south of Europe. In many parts of Europe, the peasantry eat their brown bread with slices of garlic which imparts a flavor agreeable to them. In seed catalogs, the sets are listed while seed is rarely offered. There are two varieties, the common and the pink.
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== ''Allium schoenoprasum'' ==
The only indication of variety is found in Noisette, who enumerates the ''civette'', the ''cive d'Angleterre'' and the ''cive de Portugal'' but says these are the same, only modified by soil. The plant is an humble one and is propagated by the bulbs; for, although it produces flowers, these are invariably sterile according to Vilmorin.
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== ''Allium scorodoprasum'' ==
Europe, Caucasus region and Syria. This species grows wild in the Grecian Islands and probably elsewhere in the Mediterranean regions. Loudon says it is a native of Denmark, formerly cultivated in England for the same purposes as garlic but now comparatively neglected. It is not of ancient culture as it cannot be recognized in the plants of the ancient Greek and Roman authors and finds no mention of garden cultivation by the early botanists. It is the ''Scorodoprasum'' of Clusius, 1601, and the ''Allii genus, ophioscorodon dictum quibusdam'', of J. Bauhin, 1651, but there is no indication of culture in either case. Ray, 1688, does not refer to its cultivation in England. In 1726, however, Townsend says it is "mightly in request;" in 1783, Bryant classes it with edibles. In France it was grown by Quintyne, 1690. It is mentioned by Gerarde as a cultivated plant in 1596. Its bulbs are smaller than those of garlic, milder in taste and are produced at the points of the stem as well as at its base. Rocambole is mentioned among American garden esculents by McMahon, 1806, by Gardiner and Hepburn, 1818, and by Bridgeman, 1832.
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== ''Allium senescens'' ==
''Allium senescens'' Linn. Europe and Siberia. This species is eaten as a vegetable in Japan.
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== ''Allium sphaerocephalum'' ==
Europe and Siberia. From early times this species has been eaten by the people about Lake Baikal.
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== ''Allium stellatum'' ==
''Allium stellatum'' Fras. North America. "Bulb oblong-ovate and eatable."
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== ''Allium ursinum'' ==
Europe and northern Asia. Gerarde, 1597, says the leaves were eaten in Holland. They were also valued formerly as a pot-herb in England, though very strong. The bulbs were also used boiled and in salads. In Kamchatka this plant is much prized. The Russians as well as the natives gather it for winter food.
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== ''Allium vineale'' ==
Europe and now naturalized in northern America near the coast. In England, the leaves are used as are those of garlic.
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[[Category:Sturtevant (1919)]]
