sturtevant's notes on edible plants 31 



A. angulosum Linn, mouse garlic. 



Siberia. Called on the upper Yenisei mischei-tschesnok, mouse garlic, and from early 

 times collected and salted for winter use.' 



A. ascalonicum Linn, shallot. 



Cultivated everywhere. The Askolonion krommoon of Theophrastus and the Cepa 

 ascolonia of Pliny, are supposed to be our shallot but this identity can scarcely be claimed 

 as assured. It is not established that the shallot occurs in a wild state, and De Candolle 

 is inclined to believe it is a form of A. cepa, the onion.^ It is mentioned and figiu-ed in 

 nearly all the early .botanies, and many repeat the statement of Pliny that it came from 

 Ascalon, a town in Syria, whence the name. Michaud, in his History oj the Crusades, 

 says that oiir gardens owe to the holy wars shallots, which take their name from Ascalon.^ 

 Amatus Lusitanus,* 1554, gives Spanish, Italian, French and German names, which go 

 to show its early cultitre in these coimtries. In England, shallots are said to have been 

 ciiltivated in 1633,* but Mcintosh' says they were introduced in 1548; they do not 

 seem to have been known to Gerarde in 1597. In 1633, Worlidge ^ says " eschalots art 

 now from France become an English condiment." Shallots are enumerated for Ameri- 

 can gardens in 1806.* Vilmorin ' mentions one variety with seven sub- varieties. 



The bulbs are compound, separating into what are called cloves, hke those of garlic, 

 and are of milder flavor than other cultivated ailiimis. They are used in cookery as a 

 seasoner in stews and soups, as also in a raw state; the cloves, cut into small sections, form 

 an ingredient in French salads and are also sprinkled over steaks and chops. They make 

 an excellent pickle. In China, the shallot is grown but is not valued as highly as is A. 

 uliginosum.^" 



A. canadense Linn, tree onion, wild garlic. 



North America. There is some hesitation in referring the tree onion of the garden 

 to this wild onion. Loudon " refers to it as " the tree, or bulb-bearing, onion, syn. ^gyp- 

 tian onion, A. cepa, var. vimparium; the stem produces bulbs instead of flowers and when 

 these bulbs are planted they produce underground onions of considerable size and, being 

 much stronger flavored than those of any other variety, they go farther in cookery." 

 Booth '^ says, " the bulb-bearing tree onion was introduced into England from Canada in 

 1820 and is considered to be a vivaparous variety of the common onion, which it resembles 

 in appearance. It differs in its flower-stems being svirmounted by a cluster of small green 



.' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 813. 1879. 

 ' De Candolle, A. Orig. Pis. Cult. 70. 1885. 



Michaud Hist. Crusades 3:329. 1853. 



* Dioscorides, Amatus Lusitanus Ed. 287. 1554. 

 ' Miller Card. Dtc/. 1807. 



Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:27. 1855. 



' Worlidge, J. Syst. Hart. 193. 1683. 



' McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 190. 1806. 



VilmorinLei Pis. Polag. 200. 1883. 



" Smith, F. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 7. 1871. 



"Loudon, J. C. Horl. 661. i860. 



"Booth, W.B. Treas. Bol. i-.^o. 1870. 



