New Book ** Edible Perennials: 50 Top perennials from Plants For A Future.

Current interest in forest or woodland garden

designs reflects an awareness that permanent mixed plantings are inherently more sustainable than annual monocultures. They
safeguard and enrich soil ecosystems... more >>

Search For Plant

Searc h Page Content

Home

About Us

Forum

Blog

Links

Shop

Contact Us

Register/Login

By donating to PFAF, you can help support and expand our activities

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

0

Allium chinense - G.Don.

Common Name

Rakkyo

Family

Alliaceae

Synonyms

A. bakeri. A. splendens. non

Willd.

Known Hazards

Habitats

Although no individual
reports regarding this species
have been seen, there have
been cases of poisoning caused
by the consumption, in large
quantities and by some
mammals, of certain members
of this genus. Dogs seem to be
particularly susceptible[76].
Often cultivated, plants can be
found wild on the edges of
fields[203].
E. Asia - China

Range

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary
Physical Characteristics

pdfcrowd.com

Allium chinense is an evergreen Bulb growing to 0.3 m (1ft).

It is hardy to zone (UK) 7. It is in leaf 12-Jan It is in flower from Aug to
September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female
organs) and are pollinated by Bees, insects.
USDA hardiness zone : 6-9

Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, prefers well-drained soil
and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic
(alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil.

Habitats
Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses
Edible Parts: Flowers; Leaves; Root; Seedpod.
Edible Uses:
Bulb - raw or cooked[116, 177]. The bulb has an excellent crisp texture with a strong onion flavour[183], it can be 4 - 5cm in diameter, though it does not reach this
size until the second or third year[206]. It contains about 3.1% protein, 0.12% fat, 18.3% soluble carbohydrate, 0.7% ash[179]. Leaves - raw or cooked[179]. Flowers
and young seedpods - raw[179]. Used as a garnish on salads.

Composition
Figures in grams (g) or miligrams (mg) per 100g of food.
Root (Fresh weight)
0 Calories per 100g
Water : 0%
Protein: 3.1g; Fat: 0.1g; Carbohydrate: 18.3g; Fibre: 0g; Ash: 0.7g;
Minerals - Calcium: 0mg; Phosphorus: 0mg; Iron: 0mg; Magnesium: 0mg; Sodium: 0mg; Potassium: 0mg; Zinc: 0mg;
Vitamins - A: 0mg; Thiamine (B1): 0mg; Riboflavin (B2): 0mg; Niacin: 0mg; B6: 0mg; C: 0mg;
Reference: [ ]
Notes:

Medicinal Uses
Plants For A Future can not take any responsib ility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional b efore using a plant
medicinally.
Astringent; Carminative; Expectorant.
The whole plant is astringent, carminative and expectorant[176]. It is used in the treatment of stuffiness sensation and pain in the chest, angina pectoris, pleurisy,
bronchitis, diarrhoea and tenesmus in cases of dysentery[176]. Although no other specific mention of medicinal uses has been seen for this species, members of
this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a
regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system[K].

Other Uses
Repellent.
The juice of the plant is used as a moth repellent. The whole plant is said to repel insects and moles[20].

Cultivation details
Prefers a sunny position in a light well-drained soil[1]. Tolerates poor soils[206]. Plants often die-back in hot weather mid-summer, coming back into growth in late
summer and flowering in the autumn[206]. The flowers seldom set seed in Britain[206]. The bulbs should be planted fairly deeply[1]. Most members of this genus are
intolerant of competition from other growing plants[203]. Grows well with most plants, especially roses, carrots, beet and chamomile, but it inhibits the growth of
legumes[18, 20, 54]. This plant is a bad companion for alfalfa, each species negatively affecting the other[201]. This species is widely cultivated for its edible bulb and
leaves, mainly in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of Japan, China and many other parts of eastern Asia[58, 183, 266]. Members of this genus are rarely if ever
troubled by browsing deer[233].

Propagation
Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle - if you want to produce clumps more quickly then
put three plants in each pot. Grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter and plant them out into their permanent positions in spring once they are
growing vigorously and are large enough. Division in spring. Very easy, the plants divide successfully at any time in the growing season and the divisions can be
planted straight out into their permanent positions if required.

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

You can download this page as a PDF

pdfcrowd.com

Expert comment

Author
G.Don.

Botanical References
58200266

Links / References
[K] Ken Fern Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.
[1]F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).
[18]Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. Companion Plants.
Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.
[20]Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening.
Fairly good.
[54]Hatfield. A. W. How to Enjoy your Weeds.
Interesting reading.
[58]Ohwi. G. Flora of Japan. (English translation)
The standard work. Brilliant, but not for the casual reader.
[116]Brooklyn Botanic Garden Oriental Herbs and Vegetables, Vol 39 No. 2.
A small booklet packed with information.
[176]Yeung. Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas.
An excellent Chinese herbal giving information on over 500 species. Rather technical and probably best suited to the more accomplished user of herbs.
[177]Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption.
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
[179]Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao.
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.
[183]Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants.
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American
nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[201]Allardice.P. A - Z of Companion Planting.
A well produced and very readable book.
[203]Davies. D. Alliums. The Ornamental Onions.
Covers about 200 species of Alliums. A very short section on their uses, good details of their cultivation needs.
[206]Larkcom J. Oriental Vegetables
Well written and very informative.
[233]Thomas. G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.
[266] Flora of China
On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers comment
QR Code

What's this?
This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes
that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their
own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.
1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.
2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.
3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant

Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but
rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use
plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link
If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly
relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your
feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions
ourselves.

pdfcrowd.com

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Allium chinense

Links

To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here

Name of Site
URL of Site

http://

Details

Type the text

Privacy & Terms

All the information contained in these pages is Copyright (C) Plants For A Future, 1996-2012.
Plants For A Future is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Charity No. 1057719, Company No. 3204567,
Web Design & Management
This work is lic ensed under a Creative Commons License. Some information cannot be used for c ommerc ial reasons or be modified (but some c an). Please view the c opyright link for more
information.

pdfcrowd.com