tree onion

The Tree onion produces bulbs instead of flowers and seeds, which can be planted directly in the ground.

However, some sources may still treat the tree onion as A. cepa var.

The tree onion, Allium cepa Prolifera, produces its bulbs at both ends of the plant, and is fine for culinary use.

Tree onions, Allium xproliferum, are similar to common onions, but with a cluster of bulblets where a normal onion would have flowers.

The species is very similar in taste and odor to the related common onion, Allium cepa, and hybrids between the two (tree onions) exist.

The so-called Tree onion (Allium cepa var.

The walking onion is also known as the Egyptian or tree onion (Allium cepa Ziviparum).

It has been postulated that the name Egyptian onion is derived from tree onions being brought to Europe from the Indian subcontinent by the "Gypsies".

The tree onion or Egyptian onion produces bulblets in the flower head instead of flowers, and is now known to be a hybrid of A. cepa x A. fistulosum.

The phenomenon of forming bulblets instead of flowers is also seen in garlic and other various species of Allium, which sometimes may also be referred to as top onions or tree onions.

Several species can form many bulbils in the flowerhead; in the so-called "tree onion" or Egyptian onion (A. x proliferum) the bulbils are few, but large enough to be pickled.

Tree onion bulblets will sprout and grow while still on the original stalk, which may bend down under the weight of the new growth and take root some distance from the parent plant, giving rise to the name walking onion.

It was once thought that the tree onion could be related to this plant, but it is now known that the cultivated tree onion is a hybrid between the common onion (A. cepa) and Welsh onion (A. fistulosum), classified as A. xproliferum.