Allium cepa
The genus Allium, from the Latin for garlic, includes several pungent bulbous plants, commonly called onion. Allium cepa is also known as the “garden onion” or “bulb” onion, related to wild species found in Central Asia. See more »
Allium porrum
The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum, also known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs to the same family as onions and garlic.
In Greek ampel means a grape vine and pras means leek, resulting in epithet—the leek of the vineyard.
Dried specimens, wall etchings and textual fragments at archaeological sites in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have led to the conclusion that leeks were cultivated as a food source from the 2nd century B.C.E. See more »
Allium sativum
Garlic, a member of the Amaryllidaceae family, thrives in full sunlight and is a good neighbor to most plants, except legumes and alfalfa, and is thought to repel rabbits, deer, moles and insects. Its flowers are hemaphrodite, having both female and male organs. It is a perennial that is not frost tender and is cultivated worldwide.
The garlic plant has a long folk history. Its use has been recorded in Vedic times, across cultures from ancient China to Egypt. It was believed to ward off diseases and infections and to confer strength, so the ancient Egyptians and Romans fed it to fortify the laborers who built their pyramids and other monuments. See more »