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.

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

Select a Results View:

View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
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
LEAD 0 Bulb 0.0 1.4 *
LEUCINE 2 Bulb 410.0 4469.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
LINOLEIC-ACID 27 Bulb Osman, S. A. 1980. Chemical and Biological Studies of Onion and Garlic in an Attempt to Isolate a Hypoclycaemic Extract. Abstr. 4th Asian Symp. Med. Plants Spices Bangkok, Thailand, September 15-19: 117.
LINOLEIC-ACID 27 Seed 103500.0 106200.0 -0.01 Wealth of India.
LINOLEIC-ACID 27 Seed Oil 575000.0 590600.0 0.78 *
LITHIUM 11 Bulb 0.2 0.3 *
LOPHENOL 0 Bulb Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
LUTEIN 15 Bulb 0.0 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.
LYSINE 4 Bulb 560.0 6104.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
MAGNESIUM 65 Bulb 76.0 1230.0 0.73 *
MALIC-ACID 15 Bulb Soldatenkov, S. V., Mazurova, T. A., Ranteleev, A. N. 1960. Organic Acids of Onion and Spinach. Trudy Petergof Biol. Inst., Leningrad Gosudarst Univ Im AA Zhdanova, 18: 55-61.
MALIC-ACID 15 Leaf Soldatenkov, S. V., Mazurova, T. A., Ranteleev, A. N. 1960. Organic Acids of Onion and Spinach. Trudy Petergof Biol. Inst., Leningrad Gosudarst Univ Im AA Zhdanova, 18: 55-61.
MANGANESE 14 Bulb 1.0 38.0 1.40 *
MANGANESE 14 Seed 19.4 -0.43 *
MELATONIN 23 Bulb Hattori, A., et. al. 1995. Identification of Melatonin in Plants and its Effects on Plasma Melatonin Levels and Binding to Melatonin Receptors in Vertebrates. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Int., 35(3): 627-634.
MERCURY 1 Bulb 0.0 -1.00 *
METHANETHIOL 0 Bulb Wealth of India.
METHANOL 2 Bulb *
METHANOL 2 Leaf Burtsev, A. F., Pashchenko, T. W., Rik, G. R. 1974. Mass-Spectrometric Analysis of Volatile Phytonocide Substances of Cucumber and Common Onion Leaves. Fiziol Biokhim Kul't Rast, 6: 516-.
METHIONINE 15 Bulb 100.0 1090.0 -1.00 *
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
Gram(+)icide 3 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.
Gram(-)icide 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.
GT-Inducer 1 *
Hemolytic 2 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
Hemopoietic 1 *
Hemostat 5 *
Hemostatic 1 Merck 11th Edition
Hepatocarcinogenic 1 *
Hepatomagenic 2 Phenolic Compounds in Food and Their Effects on Health. Antioxidants & Cancer Prevention. Huang, M.T., Ho, C.T. and Lee, C.Y. eds. 1992. ACS Symposium Series 507.ACS, Washington 402 pp.
Hepatoprotective 17 *
Hepatotonic 1 Fitoterapia No.5-1986.
Hepatotoxic 4 Martindale's 29th
Hepatotropic 2 *
Herbicide 4 Lydon, J. & Duke, S., The potential of pesticides from plants, pp. 1-41 in Craker, L. & Simon, J., eds, Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants: Recent Advances in Botany, Horticulture, & Pharmacology, v. 4, Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1989, 267pp.
Histamine-Inhibitor 1 *
HIV-RT-Inhibitor 2 Garcia, J., Morin,* C., Nyasse, B., Sondengam, B-L., Tchouankeu, J-C., and Tsamo, E. Complete Structural Assignments Of An Ergosterol Derivative From Entandrophragma utile. Journal of Natural Products, 54(1): 136-142, 1991.
Hydrocholerectic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Hypercholesterolemic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Hyperglycemic 2 Merck 11th Edition
Hypertensive 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).