100 More Species #30: Onion

[urbpan]

Onion Allium cepa

The onion is a familiar cultivated bulb used as a vegetable and seasoning for at least 5000 years. It was one of the first plants put in the New England soil by European colonists (despite the fact that useful native relatives already flourished). The plant has made it into nearly every cuisine on earth.

Our bag of onions was neglected and began to sprout. I took the most sprouted ones and put them in front of the kitchen window to photosynthesize. Alexis took a few of these and planted them in the cinderblock holes of our raised garden. Soon enough, the green scapes were so tall they pushed through the bird netting resting on the three foot fence posts supporting it.


Alexis holds The Pups in front of the towering onion scapes.

Once the top of the scapes pushed through the bird mesh, the buds opened into big clusters of white flowers, which were favorites among the small wasp mimic hover flies.