288 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



Edible Roots 



As has been indicated, certain roots have the habit of storing 

 large quantities of starch, which greatly enlarges their size and 

 acts as food material later on. Such plants commonly act as 

 biennials in the temperate climate, growing and storing food 

 one year, and sending up a stem and producing seed the next. 1 



The onion {Allium cepd). This savory root has been known 

 from early times. The Greeks and Romans knew several varie- 

 ties, as did the Egyptians. It has also long been cultivated in 

 the various countries of southern and eastern Asia, under vari- 

 ous names that have no similarity or other sign of philological 

 connection. 



The species has been found wild in western Asia in various 

 localities, ranging from Palestine to Beluchistan, a fact which 

 seems to satisfactorily settle its eastern origin. 



On the other hand, both the onion and the leek were found 

 common in America, all of which seems to be a puzzle to Can- 

 dolle, who remarks that species of the genus Allium are exceed- 

 ingly rare in America. On this point he could not have been 

 well informed, for if the number of related species be few, they 

 are certainly well and widely diffused. All pioneers will testify 

 to the early abundance of the common wild leek (Allium tricoc- 

 cum), to the great detriment of the butter of those days, 2 as we 

 of our own time know the wild onion of various species to be 



1 In tropical countries this seed production need not wait till the second 

 year, but may proceed directly upon the accumulation of sufficient store of 

 food for the rapid maturing of seed. Here all distinctions as to annual, bien- 

 nial, and perennial disappear. The century plant has the same habit, except 

 that the food material is stored in the leaves rather than in the roots, and very 

 much more than a single year is required. It does not require, however, as the 

 name indicates, a full century before bloom. In most cases it is probably nearer 

 a decade. 



2 The cows running in the woods and wild pastures ate freely of the wild 

 leeks, which often were so abundant as to give a grassy-green appearance 

 to the forests in the early spring. This so strongly affected the milk and 

 butter with the disagreeable flavor of the leek as often to make the product 

 unsalable, indeed uneatable. 



