Tree onion

Common card · No. 288056

The tree onion (Allium × proliferum) is a perennial plant similar to the common onion (A. cepa), but with a cluster of bulblets where a normal onion would have flowers. Tree onions are also known as spring onions, green onions, topsetting onions, walking onions, or Egyptian onions. Genomic evidence has suggested that they may be a diploid hybrid of the shallot and the Welsh onion (A. fistulosum). Other sources treat the tree onion as A. cepa var. proliferum or A. cepa Proliferum Group. Tree onion bulblets will sprout and grow while still on the original stalk. The bulblets are usually marble-sized, between 0.5 cm to 3 cm in diameter. They 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 has been postulated that the name "Egyptian onion" derived from Romani people bringing tree onions to Europe from the Indian subcontinent. The phenomenon of forming bulblets (bulbils) instead of flowers is also...

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