An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Plant Allium cepa (Liliaceae)

Common Names
Onion; Shallot
How this plant is used
Food
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
TYROSINE 8 Bulb 290.0 3161.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
VALINE 3 Bulb 270.0 2943.0 -1.00 Duke, 1992 *
VANILLIC-ACID 24 Bulb not available 258.0 1.00 Duke, 1992 *
VIT-B-6 0 Bulb 1.0 18.0 not available USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
WATER 0 Bulb 866000.0 918000.0 0.78 Duke, 1992 *
WATER 0 Leaf not available 922000.0 0.57 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
XYLITOL 10 Bulb not available not available not available Counsell, J. N., Roberton, D. J. 1976. Xylitol-A Sweetener Which is Kind to the Teeth. Food Process Ind., 45(54): 24-26.
XYLOSE 3 Bulb not available not available not available Sinha, A. 1959. Chemical Examination of Allium cepa. I. Glycosidic and Sugar Fractions. Indian J. Appl. Chem., 22: 89-91.
ZEAXANTHIN 5 Bulb not available not available not available Granado, F., Olmedilla, B., Blanco, I., Rojas-Hidalgo, E. 1992. Carotenoid Composition in Raw and Cooked Spanish Vegetables. J. Agr. Food Chem., 40(11): 2135-2140.
ZINC 77 Bulb 2.0 53.0 1.41 Duke, 1992 *
ZINC 77 Seed not available 34.0 -0.32 Duke, 1992 *
ZIRCONIUM 0 Bulb 0.8 1.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Antilithic 4 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Antilupus 1 Martindale's 28th
AntiLyme 5 Duke, 1992 *
Antilymphocytic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Antilymphomic 3 Duke, 1992 *
Antimaculitic 6 Joseph, J., Nadeau, D. and Underwood, A. 2001. The Color Code. Hyperion, NY.
Antimalarial 3 Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of the Tropics. Leeuwenberg, A.J.M., ed. Pudoc, Wageningen. 1987.
Antimanic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Antimastalgic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Antimastitic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Antimeasles 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Antimelanogenic 2 Duke, 1992 *
Antimelanomic 3 Duke, 1992 *
AntiMeniere's 1 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
Antimeningitic 1 LAWSON in Koch, H. P. and Lawson, L. D., eds. 1996. Garlic- The
Science and therapeutic application of Allium sativum L. and related species. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. 329 pp.
Antimenopausal 5 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Antimenorrhagic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Antimetastatic 6 Cunane, S. and Thompson, L. U., eds. 1995. Flaxseed in Human Nutrition. AOCS Press, Champaign IL. 384 pp.
Antimigraine 6 Martindale's 29th
Antimitotic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.