Edible: Leaves, Bulbs, Vegetable, Flowers
These onion like plants produce a cluster of bulbs. They are narrowly oval. It grows to 1.2 m high. The leaves are round and hollow. This is a genuinely perennial form of Allium cepa, the bulb grows deeper in the soil and divides to produce a number of underground bulbs each year in much the same way as shallots. Large bulbs divide to form 5-15 bulbs whilst smaller bulbs grow into one large bulb. They do not produce bulbils in the flower-head.
A temperate plant. They can be grown throughout the country in Papua New Guinea but do best in the cooler higher places. In PNG it is recorded between sea level and 2,800 m above sea level. They need a fertile well drained soil. They are frost resistant. They tolerate a pH in the range 4.5 to 8.3. It suits hardiness zones 5-10.
Common Names: Shallots, Everlasting Onion, Aka wakegi, Alubosa, Bawang merah, Bunching onion, Cebollo corojo, Chhyapi, Chota piaz, Ever-ready onion, Hanh huong, Hom daeng, Huo cong, Khtim kraham, Kon tsung-tau, Kyet-thun-ni, Multiplier onion, Onioni, Potato onion, Rathu-lunu, Sibuyas
Synonyms:
Allium ascalonicum L.;
Allium cepa var. ascalonicum;
Allium cepa multiplicans Bailey;
Allium cepa var. solaninum Alef.;
See note in Flora of China about name Allium ascalonicum.