The onion (Allium cepa L.Tooltip Carl Linnaeus, from Latin cepa), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified as a separate species until 2011. The onion's close relatives include garlic, scallion, leek, and chives.
The genus contains several other species cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion Allium fistulosum, the tree onion Allium × proliferum, and the Canada onion Allium canadense. The name wild onion is applied to a number of Allium species, but A. cepa is exclusively known from cultivation. Its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its first growing season.
The onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves, and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale (leaves) that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem. In the autumn (or in spring, in the case of overwintering onions), the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become more dry, and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage. The crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi which can cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa, such as shallots and potato onions, produce multiple bulbs.
Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are often served raw as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish, but can be eaten cooked or used to make pickles or chutneys. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which may irritate the eyes.
Taxonomy and etymologyThe onion plant (Allium cepa), also known as the bulb onion[2] or common onion,[3] is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium.[4][5] It was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum.[6] Synonyms during its taxonomic history are:[7][8]
Allium cepa var. aggregatum – G. DonAllium cepa var. bulbiferum – RegelAllium cepa var. cepa – LinnaeusAllium cepa var. multiplicans – L.H. BaileyAllium cepa var. proliferum – (Moench) RegelAllium cepa var. solaninum – AlefAllium cepa var. viviparum – (Metz) Mansf.[7][8]A. cepa is known exclusively from cultivation,[9] but related wild species occur in Central Asia and Iran. The most closely related include A. vavilovii from Turkmenistan and A. asarense from Iran.[10][11] The genus Allium contains other species variously called onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion (A. fistulosum), Egyptian onion (A. × proliferum), and Canada onion (A. canadense).[3] The vast majority of cultivars of A. cepa belong to the common onion group (A. cepa var. cepa) and are usually referred to simply as onions. The Aggregatum Group of cultivars (A. cepa var. aggregatum) includes both shallots,[12] formerly classed as a separate species,[13][14] and potato onions.[12] Related species include garlic, leek, and chives.[15]
Cepa is commonly accepted as Latin for onion; the generic name Allium is the classical Latin name for garlic.[16] It has an affinity with Spanish: cebolla, Italian: cipolla, Polish: cebula, and the German Zwiebel (this last altered by folk etymology). The English word chive is from the Old French chive, in turn from cepa.[17]
DescriptionThe onion is a biennial plant but is usually grown as an annual. Modern varieties typically grow to a height of 15 to 45 cm (6 to 18 in). The leaves are yellowish- to bluish green and grow alternately in a flattened, fan-shaped swathe. They are fleshy, hollow, and cylindrical, with one flattened side. They are at their broadest about a quarter of the way up, beyond which they taper to blunt tips. The base of each leaf is a flattened, usually white sheath that grows out of the basal plate of a bulb. From the underside of the plate, a bundle of fibrous roots extends for a short way into the soil. As the onion matures, food reserves accumulate in the leaf bases, and the bulb of the onion swells.[18]
In the autumn, the leaves die back, and the outer scales of the bulb become dry and brittle, so the crop is normally harvested. If left in the soil over winter, the growing point in the middle of the bulb begins to develop in the spring. New leaves appear, and a long, stout, hollow stem expands, topped by a bract protecting a developing inflorescence. The inflorescence takes the form of a rounded umbel of white flowers with parts in sixes. The seeds are glossy black and triangular in cross-section.[18] The average pH of an onion is around 5.5.[19]
