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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Allium cepa

Allium cepa (Liliaceae)

Common Names
Onion; Shallot
How this plant is used
Food

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View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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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
ASCORBIC-ACID 112 Leaf 390.0 5000.0 0.02 *
ASH 0 Bulb 4000.0 63000.0 -1.00 *
ASH 0 Leaf 7000.0 90000.0 -0.51 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
ASPARAGINE 2 Bulb *
ASPARTIC-ACID 3 Bulb 640.0 6967.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
BARIUM 0 Bulb 4.0 28.0 *
BENZYL-ISOTHIOCYANATE 20 Bulb Dorsch, W., Adam, O., Weber, J., Ziegeltrum, T. 1985. Antiasthmatic Effects of Onion Extracts - Detection of Benzyl- and Other Isothiocyanates (Mustard Oils) as Antiasthmatic Compounds of Plant Origin. Eur. J. Pharmacol., 107(1): 17-24.
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Bulb 0.0 52.0 1.00 *
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Flower 28.0 -0.19 *
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Leaf 12.0 158.0 -0.45 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Bulb 120.0 510.0 -1.00 *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Seed Kintia, P. K., Degtiaryova, L. P., Balashova, N. N., Shvets, S. A. 1987. Sterols and Steroidal Glycosides of Bulb Onion Seeds. Fecs. Int. Conf. Chem. Biotechol. Biol. Act. Nat. Prod., (Proc.) 3rd: 166-170.
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Seed Oil Grujic-Injac, B., Basarevic-Dinic, L., Lajsic, S., Stefanovic, D. 1985. Chemical Analysis of Seed Oil of the Onion (Allium cepa). Hrana Ishrana, 25: 167-169 (Inst Ishr Vet Fak Belgrade, Yugoslavia)
BETA-TOCOPHEROL 0 Seed *
BETA-TOCOPHEROL 0 Seed Oil Grujic-Injac, B., Basarevic-Dinic, L., Lajsic, S., Stefanovic, D. 1985. Chemical Analysis of Seed Oil of the Onion (Allium cepa). Hrana Ishrana, 25: 167-169 (Inst Ishr Vet Fak Belgrade, Yugoslavia)
BORON 4 Bulb 1.0 45.0 1.00 *
BRASSICASTEROL 0 Seed Kintia, P. K., Degtiaryova, L. P., Balashova, N. N., Shvets, S. A. 1987. Sterols and Steroidal Glycosides of Bulb Onion Seeds. Fecs. Int. Conf. Chem. Biotechol. Biol. Act. Nat. Prod., (Proc.) 3rd: 166-170.
BROMINE 0 Bulb 1.0 15.0 ACTA AGRIC SCAND SUPPL 22: 1980
CADMIUM 3 Bulb 0.0 0.4 *
CAFFEIC-ACID 102 Bulb *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
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
Anxiolytic 8 Merck 11th Edition
AP-1-Inhibitor 1 *
Aphrodisiac 2 Medline (post 1990 searches filed in my computer)
Apoptotic 9 *
Aromatase-Inhibitor 2 *
Artemicide 2 Jung, J.H., Pummangura, S., Chaichantipyuth, c., Patarapanich, C., and McLaughlin, J.L. 1989. Bioactive Constituents of Melodorum fruticosum. Phytochemistry. 29(5): 1667-1670. 1990.
Arteriodilator 2 *
Arylamine-N-Acetyltransferase-Inhibitor 2 *
Ascaricide 1 *
Asthma-preventive 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Astringent 2 *
Atherogenic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
ATPase-Inhibitor 1 Nigg, H.N. and Seigler, D.S., eds. 1992. Phytochemical Resources for Medicine and Agriculture. Plenum Press, New York. 445 pp.
Avifuge 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.
Bacteristat 2 *
Beta-Adrenergic Receptor Blocker 1 *
Beta-Blocker 3 *
Beta-Glucuronidase-Inhibitor 2 *
Bilirubinolytic 1 Iwu, M.M. 1993. Handbook of African Medicinal Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 435 pp.
Bradycardiac 1 Huang, K. C. 1993. The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 388 pp.