Account of the (liferent Varieties of the Onion. 



duces an ample crop below the surface. It seems to be 

 coming more into use, as it becomes more known. It is a 

 strong Onion, but its greatest advantage is that the bulbs 

 being formed and matured very early in the year, the gar- 

 dener is thereby possessed of a full grown ripened Onion at 

 a time when all those of the preceding season have perished, 

 and before the new crops are ready. It is unnecessary to 

 go more into detail respecting it, an account of it by Mr. 

 Maher being already printed in the Transactions of the 

 Society.* 



The Tree, or Bulb-bearing Onion. This had long been 

 erroneously supposed to be a species, (Allium Canadense,) dis- 

 tinct from the common Onion ; it was however figured in the 

 Botanical Magazine, plate 1469, as a variety of Allium cepa, 

 and in a note added by Mr. Gawler to page 1635 of the 

 same work, the cause of the error, as well as the origin of the 

 variety, is very satisfactorily made out. It seems that the Tree 

 Onion is met with in the gardens of Canada, the climate of 

 which country being too cold to allow it to flower and seed 

 freely, it became viviparous (bearing bulbs instead of flow- 

 ers) and retained its habit when brought here. The A. Cana- 

 dense is a distinct species, and as this variety came from 

 Canada, the cause of its erroneous denomination is evident, 

 The Tree Onion is called by the French Ognon d'Egypte. 

 It is perhaps more an object of curiosity, than real use ; the 

 small bulbs, however, are excellent in pickles, for which their 

 diminutive size is well adapted. It is necessary to plant the 

 bulbs fresh each spring to obtain a crop ; the old roots pro- 

 duce a few offsets below the surface of the ground as well 



* See page 305. 



