Allium tuberosum |
Allium cepa |
|
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Chinese chive, garlic chives, oriental garlic |
cultivated onion, garden onion |
|
Bulbs | 1–3, borne on stout, ± horizontal rhizome, elongate, cylindric or conic, 0.5–1.5 × 0.7–2 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, brown, reticulate, cells ± fine-meshed, open, fibrous; inner coats white, cells closely parallel, elongate. |
1–3, not rhizomatous, mostly depressed-globose, varying in size from cultivar to cultivar, 5–8 × 3–10 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, yellowish brown, red, or white, membranous, without reticulation; inner coats white to pink, cells obscure to quadrate. |
Leaves | withering from tip by anthesis, 2–5, sheathing scape to ± soil level; blade solid, flat, carinate abaxially, 20–40 cm × 2–6 mm, margins entire. |
persistent, 4–10, sheathing proximal 1/6–1/4 scape; blade fistulose, usually ± semicircular in cross section, 10–50 cm × 4–20 mm. |
Scape | persistent, solitary, erect, terete, 30–50 cm × 1–3 mm. |
persistent, solitary, erect, fistulose, inflated below middle, 30–100 cm × 3–20 mm. |
Umbel | persistent, erect, loose, 20–50-flowered, hemispheric-globose, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 1–3, 3–7-veined, lance-ovate, shorter than pedicel, apex acuminate. |
persistent, erect, compact, to 500-flowered, globose, bulbils occasionally found; spathe bracts caducous, 2–3, 3–4-veined, ovate, ± equal, apex acute to acuminate. |
Flowers | substellate, 4–9 mm; tepals spreading, white with green or brownish midveins, lanceolate to elliptic, ± equal, withering and exposing capsule, margins entire, apex obtuse or acute; stamens included; anthers purple; pollen white; ovary crestless; style linear, ± equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed; pedicel 10–30 mm. |
stellate to campanulate to urceolate, 3–7 mm; tepals erect to ± spreading, white to pink with greenish midveins, withering in fruit, margins entire, apex obtuse or acute, outer ovate, inner oblong; stamens exserted; anthers white; pollen white; ovary crestless; style linear, ± equaling stamens; stigma capitate, unlobed; pedicel 10–50 mm. |
Seed | coat shining; cells smooth, irregularly shaped, with ± sinuous walls. |
coat not known. |
Allium tuberosum |
Allium cepa |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Roadsides and other disturbed ground | Disturbed sites adjacent to areas where cultivated |
Elevation | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) | |
Distribution |
IA; NE; WI; se Asia [Introduced in North America]
|
AR; CA; KS; LA; MT; OR; TX; WA; cultivated in Europe; Asia
|
Discussion | Allium tuberosum is cultivated in China, Siberia, and North America, and is reported to be established in New England. It may escape anywhere the species is cultivated. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The onion of commerce, Allium cepa is widely cultivated as a biennial in North America, Europe, and Asia. It is unknown in the wild and is probably derived from A. oschanini of central Asia. The cultivated form is often polyploid (2n = 16, 32, 54) and possibly of hybrid origin. It exists in numerous cultivars, a few of which form large bulbils in the umbel. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 240. | FNA vol. 26, p. 244. |
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Rottler ex Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 2: 38. (1825) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 301. (1753) |
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