118 Geographical Distribution of the Genus Allium. 



As soon as the descent is made towards the Pacific, where the 

 moist ocean breezes have play, and deposit their humidity, the 

 A. stellatum and A. reticulatum resume their place in the western 

 flora. They have linear leaves, and are certainly specifically 

 distinct from the garden onion. 



Two other species yet remain to be noticed, the A. acuminatum 

 and A. Douglasii. The former keeps, as far as we yet know, to 

 the north-west coast; the latter is found there also, but has been 

 likewise discovered on the Shoshonee or Snake Indian lands south 

 of the Blue Mountains, an inland district. They both possess 

 rose-colored flowers, and their umbels are loose or patent. 



We thus perceive that the species of the Allium or Garlic genus 

 hitherto discovered in North America, have no more to do with 

 the garden onion than the garlic or chive themselves. Yet when 

 met with by the voyageur they are called, indiscriminately, 

 " oignons sauvages," or, if he speak English, " wild onions." 

 When the boats' crews are grouped together round a camp fire ? 

 if any of the party have picked up a few of these savoury little 

 bulbs, with which to regale his mess, a very earnest discussion 

 will sometimes arise as to the comparative merits of the "oignons 

 sauvao-es." Should one of the crew have ever had the good for- 

 tune to handle a spade or weeding-hoe in the gardens of Canada? 

 he immediately becomes the savan of the circle, and after due 

 inspection may, with a grave countenance, pronounce the onions 

 to be ciboullettes. If they be small and cylindrical, with hol- 

 low leaves, he is actually right, and they are luxuriating on the 

 A. schcenoprasum. This is the extent of the voyageur's knowledge of 

 onions; and I believe that the intrepid and persevering Sir Alex. 

 McKenzie merely spoke as a voyager, adopting the phraseology 

 of his canoe-men when talking of these native species. All dif- 

 ference or argument about species is summarily settled amongst 

 voyageurs by the irrefutable conclusion, " lis sont tous des oignons 

 sauvages.'' 



The scientific botanists, Richardson, Douglas, Drummond, Tol- 

 mie, and Gairdner, who traversed the country to the northward, 

 have never given the slightest hint of the Allium cepa being a 

 native. Had it been to be met with, it could not possibly have 

 escaped their observation. It is not a plant of the morass or 

 inaccessible mountain: it would have been found with its con- 

 geners on the banks of rivers, or in plains where the soil was rich, 

 or fertilized to a certain extent by alluvium. Its discovery as an 



