158 



Bulh or Onion Crops 



spatlie-bracts ; perianth segments lance-acuminate, % to in. 

 long and mostly equalling or exceeding the slender pedicels; 

 stamens (6) included; pistil single, a long straight stj'le aris- 

 ing from the summit of the emarginate ovary : fruit (capsule) 

 splitting into 3 parts, several-seeded, the seeds black, about 

 Ys in. long, oblong and pointed on either end, convex on the 

 back, keeled on the front, weighing about 1 nig. — Native in 

 Europe and Asia ; the native plant in the U. S. is now sep- 

 arated as var. sihiricum, Hartm,, or as A. siMricum, Linn. 

 It is not unlikely that more than one plant is in cultivation 

 as chives. 



2. A. Cepa, Linn. Sp. PI. 300. Onion. Mostly biennial, 

 not cespitose (not growing in tufts or sods), glabrous and 

 glaucous : bulb large, much expanded, globular, oblong, coni- 

 cal, oblate, or other forms, the outside membranes thin and 

 tunicate : leaves the first year radical, sheathing over each 

 other at base and forming a neck, long and pointed, soft, 

 hollow, swollen in the lower half : stem (produced usually 

 the second year) simple, straight and erect, 2 to 4 ft. high, 

 hollow, much enlarged, swollen below the middle, much over- 

 topping the few or many prominently sheathing leaves, some- 

 times the stem-leaves disappearing before flowering : flowers 

 numerous, lilac or whitish in a large terminal globular umbel- 

 late head subtended by 2 or 3 reflexed spathe-bracts, about 

 14 ill- long and borne on slender radiating pedicels % to 1 in. 

 or more long; perianth segments narrowly lanceolate, acute, 

 the stamens exserted, the filaments of the 3 inner stamens 

 very broad at the base and lobed or toothed on either side; 

 ovary globose or depressed-globose, smooth, with a single style : 

 fruit dehiscing into three parts : seed black, about % in. long, 

 nearly as broad as long, convex on the back and angled on 

 the front, usually irregularly shrunken, weighing 3 to 5 mg. 

 — Western Asia. Var. viviparum, Metz, acc. Alef. Landw. FL 

 301. 1866. (Var. 'bull) ellif era, Bailey, Princ. Yeg. Gard. Ed. 1, 

 316. 1901.) Top Onion. Bulb small, undeveloped; bulbels 

 borne in the flower-cluster with the flowers, and used for pur- 

 poses of propagation ; • sometimes the cluster is proliferous, 



