CHAPTER XIII. 



Alliaceous Plants. 



THESE plants consist of bulbous roots, belonging to 

 the natural order, Jlsphodehce, so called from the 

 asphodel, which, though not a native of Britain, is 

 cultivated as an ornament to our gardens. 



A bulbous essentially differs from a tuberous root 

 in growing from the coronal plate upwards, and is, in 

 reality, not a root but a bud, which defends the em- 

 bryo or future shoot from external injuries during the 

 winter ; and which is always made up of parts which 

 are ultimately to be developed in the atmosphere. 

 Whatever may be their form and structure, or whether 

 they grow in the earth or above the surface, they are, 

 in reality, stalks or leaves, generally the latter. 



Bulbs are not very nourishing ; yet though most 

 of those under present notice have an odour that is 

 far from agreeable, their pungency and supposed 

 sanative qualities render them general favourites, espe- 

 cially among the humbler classes. The rustic inhabi- 

 tant of the northern parts of Britain looks upon the 

 onion as his chief vegetable dainty; and on some parts 

 of the Continent, the garlic, which is rather too strong 

 in flavour for the people of this country, is as much 

 esteemed, being eaten by the poor as almost the sole 

 addition to their black bread, and entering into many 

 of the made dishes of the rich. 



The ONION Jlllium Cepa. The use of the 

 onion has been so long known in this country, that 

 whence, and at what period, it was obtained cannot 



