110 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Shallot (Allium Ascalonium, L.). Pliny in remarking that the 

 Greeks have many kinds of onions, mentions " the Ascalonean, so 

 called from Ascalon, a city of Judaea." This name has been corrupted 

 to echalote in French, clialofe in Spanish, and changed to shallot in 

 English. De Oandolle from his historical investigations is not led to 

 consider it as a species, especially as Theophrastus regarded it as a form 

 of A. Cepa, and there is no proof of its being wild anywhere. More- 

 over, it commonly has no flowers, being called Cepa sterilis by Bauhin. 

 This fact indicates a long cultivation by bulbs, as it produces many like 

 the garlic. De Oandolle thinks it is a form of A. Cepa, dating from 

 about the beginning of the Christian era. 



Fig. 60. — Wild and Bulbous Leeks of Malta, with cultivated form for 



comparison. 



Chive (Allium Schoenoprasum, L.). De Oandolle observes, " This 

 species occupies an extensive area in the northern hemisphere. It is 

 found all over Europe from Corsica to Greece, to the south of Sweden, 

 in Siberia, as far as Kamtschatka, and also in North America. The 

 variety found in the Alps is the nearest to the cultivated form." It is 

 also wild in the north and west counties of England and Wales. It was 

 probably known to the ancients, as it is wild in Greece and Italy. It is 

 figured by Dodoans, 1559, who gives the French name Petit poureau, as 

 the leaves somewhat resemble those of a rush. The specific name 

 means "rush-leek." 



The Leek (A. Ampeloprasum, L. var. Porrum) is a cultivated 



