Chives, scientific name Allium schoenoprasum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and Chinese onion.
The onion, 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 2010. Its close relatives include garlic, scallion, leek, and chive.
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases that function as food storage organs during dormancy.
Allium ursinum, known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amaryllidaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, where it grows in moist woodland. It is a wild relative of onion and garlic, all belonging to the same genus, Allium. There are two recognized subspecies: A. ursinum subsp. ursinum and A. ursinum subsp. ucrainicum.
Allium oleraceum, the field garlic, is a Eurasian species of wild onion. It is a bulbous perennial that grows wild in dry places, reaching 30 centimetres (12 in) in height. It reproduces by seed, bulbs and by the production of small bulblets in the flower head. Unlike A. vineale, it is very rare with A. oleraceum to find flower-heads containing bulbils only. In addition, the spathe in A. oleraceum is in two parts.
Allium tricoccum is a North American species of wild onion widespread across eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Many of the common English names for this plant are also used for other Allium species, particularly the similar Allium ursinum, which is native to Europe and Asia.
Allium vineale is a perennial, bulb-forming species of wild onion, native to Europe, northwestern Africa and the Middle East. The species was introduced in Australia and North America, where it has become a noxious weed.
Allium canadense, the Canada onion, Canadian garlic, wild garlic, meadow garlic and wild onion is a perennial plant native to eastern North America from Texas to Florida to New Brunswick to Montana. The species is also cultivated in other regions as an ornamental and as a garden culinary herb. The plant is also reportedly naturalized in Cuba.
Allium sphaerocephalon is a plant species in the Amaryllis family known as round-headed leek, round-headed garlic, ball-head onion, and other variations on these names. Drumstick allium is another common name applied to this species. Some publications use the alternate spelling Allium sphaerocephalum. It is a bulbous herbaceous perennial plant.
Allium campanulatum is a species of wild onion known by the common name dusky onion or Sierra onion. This is a flowering plant native to the western United States from southeastern Washington and northern Oregon to southern California, and western Nevada. The dusky onion grows in foothills and mountains, especially in dry areas, such as chaparral habitats.
Allium shevockii is a rare species of wild onion known by the common name Spanish Needle onion. It is found only in a limited area in the southern Sierra Nevada of California.
Allium cratericola is a species of wild onion known by the common name Cascade onion. It is endemic to California, where is an uncommon member of the flora in several of the state's mountain ranges, including the northern and southern California Coast Ranges, the western Transverse Ranges, Klamath Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada foothills. Its range covers much of the state, from Riverside County to Siskiyou County.
Allium munzii, also known by its common name, Munz's onion, is a bulb forming perennial herb endemic to Western Riverside County, California. This flower is characterized by its umbrella-like shape and flower clusters. Allium munzii is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act as of 1998. There are thirteen known populations in existence, and the latest population count stands at 20,000-70,000 individuals, counted in 1998. Major threats to this flower include urbanization, agriculture, clay mining, and other human activities. A recovery plan for Allium munzii is not in motion but there are steps being taken to protect this species.
Allium tribracteatum, known by the common name Threebract onion, is a species of wild onion found in California.
Ornamental bulbous plants, often called ornamental bulbs or just bulbs in gardening and horticulture, are herbaceous perennials grown for ornamental purposes, which have underground or near ground storage organs. Botanists distinguish between true bulbs, corms, rhizomes, tubers and tuberous roots, any of which may be termed "bulbs" in horticulture. Bulb species usually lose their upper parts during adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat or winter cold. The bulb's storage organs contain moisture and nutrients that are used to survive these adverse conditions in a dormant state. When conditions become favourable the reserves sustain a new growth cycle. In addition, bulbs permit vegetative or asexual multiplication in these species. Ornamental bulbs are used in parks and gardens and as cut flowers.
Allium stellatum, the autumn onion or prairie onion, is a North American species of wild onion native to central Canada and the central United States. It ranges from Ontario and Saskatchewan south to Tennessee and Texas.
Allium bisceptrum, also known as the twincrest onion or aspen onion, is a high elevation plant native to western United States. It is a perennial that thrives under damp and shady conditions or open meadows in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah.
Allium stipitatum, Persian shallot, is an Asian species of onion native to central and southwestern Asia.
Allium schubertii, which has various common names including ornamental onion, flowering onion, tumbleweed onion and Persian onion, is a species of monocotyledonous flowering plant. It belongs to the onion and garlic genus, in the subfamily Allioideae of the family Amaryllidaceae. It occurs in the Levant and Libya.
Allium is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name Allium is the Latin word for garlic, and the type species for the genus is Allium sativum which means "cultivated garlic".
