KNOW YOUR ONIONS!

 

A plant in a garden AI-generated content may be incorrect.

KNOW YOUR ONIONS!!

(and if you weren’t confused before, you soon will be!!!)

                                       A close-up of a flower AI-generated content may be incorrect.                                   

Allium ampeloprasum L. (porrum Group), aka Wild Broadleaf Leek, Elephant Garlic

While doing a little research on what I have always called perennial leeks, I was amazed at the variety and complexity of the Allium family!  I have two large clumps of the one pictured above.  The flower starts out hanging down on the stem, gradually straightening out to form a beautiful (hooded) flower!  Bees love them too. 

 

Tulbaghia violacea, Society Garlic

Society Garlic is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial. Delicate, tubular, star-shaped flowers atop one-foot-tall grassy foliage. With the flowers, this groundcover can reach a humble height of two feet. Blooms are usually small and lilac-lavender. Eight to 20 flowers make up each cluster. Blooms last from early summer to autumn. Native to the rocky grasslands of eastern South Africa, society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) does not belong to the Allium genus of garlic and onions. However, they are in the same family as onion, the Amaryllis (Amaryllidaceae) family. The common name "society garlic" stems from the rumor that this plant tastes like garlic without causing bad breath. The strong garlic scent of the foliage overpowers the sweet scent of the flowers, which smell only faintly of garlic when crushed. Maintenance for this tender perennial is low in USDA gardening zones 7 through 10 – “plant it and forget it”!!!!!  

                       

                      The flowers are edible too, making a pretty garnish to a salad.  (or a cocktail???)             

 

 

Allium fistulosum aka Spring Onion, Egyptian Walking Onion, Scallion, Welsh Onion, Bunching Onion (and other names). 

                    A green plant in a garden AI-generated content may be incorrect.    A close up of a flower AI-generated content may be incorrect.    

 

Each little flower is a bulbil, and when the stem falls over, each bulbil can root where it lands and create a new plant.  It can “walk” all over the bed!!!  Hence the name “Walking Onion”.  The average “walk” is 24” per year

Genetic testing indicates that the walking onion originated from a cross between the Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum), and the common onion (Allium cepa).  As for the word Egyptian, these walking onions don’t seem to have anything to do with Egypt, in fact their origin in the wild is not known.   However, we do know that the onion was sacred to the Egyptians, as the layers upon layers inside the onion symbolized eternity.

Lots of information on the internet, of course, and also on plant identification apps!  However, it is still pretty confusing.  There is also an interesting little book called “Onions, Leeks, & Garlic”, by Marian Coonse.  Published by Texas A&M University Press, it doesn’t have photos, but explains the divisions, sub-divisions, and sub-sub-divisions.

After all this, my favorite is still Allium ampeloprasum, which makes me thing of the wizard in Lord of the Rings 😊

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CUCUZZA SQUASH - "PLEASE GIVE ME PLENTY OF ROOM TO GROW"

Image
  Cucuzza, botanically classified as Lagenaria siceraria, is an heirloom Italian variety belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family. Despite their main moniker including the descriptor “squash,” Cucuzza is actually a type of gourd that forms on fast-growing vines reaching up to seven meters (23 feet) in length. Cucuzza vines are a climbing species extending across trellises and fences and feature leafy foliage that often conceals the elongated gourds. Though Cucuzza is botanically a gourd, it is primarily used as a summer squash and is colloquially called a squash, incorporated into a wide array of cooked preparations. Cucuzza gourds, leaves, and young shoots are edible and have a mild, sweet, and subtly vegetal flavor. In southern Italy, Cucuzza is a staple ingredient in summer preparations, and the gourds are sometimes known as Zuzza, Suzza melon, and Cucuzzi in markets. Over time, the plants were spread worldwide through Italian immigrants and became a specialty home garden crop in w...
Read more

"KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PLANTING" - LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT THE HERB "COMFREY".

Image
  "KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PLANTING"      This is my first time to grow Comfrey ( Symphytum officinale) but I have long been aware of its magical properties when used as a “compost tea”.   If you look closely, it appears that there is a flower bud forming already in the center of the plant.   It grew very quickly to this size, but thinking it would become a very tall plant, I’m surprised it hasn’t grown more.   Being an avid jam & jelly maker, who also dabbles in salves, vinegars and all sorts of things, I was alarmed to read that Comfrey is now considered “potentially dangerous” because the leaves contain small amounts of an alkaloid that can cause liver damage and probably should not be taken internally even though they are rich in nutrients.   Comfrey is also known as Boneset, healing herb, knitbone and has been used since ancient times for medicinal purposes. T he young leaves have been eaten raw in salads for centuries.   It is...
Read more