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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
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
OLEIC-ACID 18 Seed 46800.0 -0.59 Wealth of India.
OLEIC-ACID 18 Seed Oil 260000.0 292900.0 -0.15 *
OXALIC-ACID 9 Bulb 10.0 *
OXALIC-ACID 9 Leaf Gad, S. S., Esmat El-Zalaki, M., Hohamed, M. S., Mohasseb, S. Z. 1982. Oxalate Content of Some Leafy Vegetables and Dry Legumes Consumed Widely in Egypt. Food Chem., 8(3): 169-177. (Coll. Agric. Alexandria Univ. Ale.)
P-COUMARIC-ACID 25 Bulb *
P-COUMARIC-ACID 25 Leaf Das, V. S. R., Rao, J. V. S. 1964. Phenolic Acids of Onion Plant. Curr. Sci., 33(15): 471-472.
P-COUMARIC-ACID 25 Root Das, V. S. R., Rao, J. V. S. 1964. Phenolic Acids of Onion Plant. Curr. Sci., 33(15): 471-472.
P-CYMENE 16 Fruit Juice Schmidt, N. E., et. al. 1996. Rapid Extraction Method of Quantitating the Lachrymatory Factor of Onion Using Gas Chromatography. J. Agric. Food Chem., 44(9): 2690-2693.
P-HYDROXY-BENZOIC-ACID 13 Bulb 107.0 1.00 *
P-HYDROXYBANZOIC-ACID 0 Bulb 107.0 *
PAEONIDIN-GLYCOSIDE 0 Bulb Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J., Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations, Revised Ed., Saffron Walden, the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., Essex UK, 362 pp, 1988, reprint 1989.
PALMITIC-ACID 13 Bulb 240.0 2325.0 -1.00 *
PALMITIC-ACID 13 Seed 13140.0 -0.43 Wealth of India.
PALMITIC-ACID 13 Seed Oil 73000.0 -0.72 *
PANTOTHENIC-ACID 11 Bulb 1.0 16.0 1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
PECTIN 24 Bulb Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
PELARGONIDIN-MONOGLYCOSIDE 0 Bulb Fuleki, T. 1969. The Anthocyanins of Strawberry, Rhubarb, Radish, and Onion. J. Food Sci., 34(4): 365-369.
PENTOSAN 0 Bulb *
PEROXIDASE 0 Bulb *
PHENYLALANINE 7 Bulb 300.0 3270.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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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
Hyperuricemic 1 Martindale's 28th
Hypnotic 3 Martindale's 29th
Hypoammonemic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Hypoarginanemic 1 Martindale's 29th
Hypocalcemic 1 Borchard, R. E., Barnes, C. D., and Eltherton, L. G. 1991. Drug Dosage in Laboratory Animals: A Handbook. (3rd Ed.) The Telford Press, Inc., P. O. Box 287, Caldwell NJ 07006.
Hypocholesterolemic 27 *
Hypoglycemic 17 *
Hypolipemic 1 *
Hypolipidemic 4 *
Hypotensive 17 Cunane, S. and Thompson, L. U., eds. 1995. Flaxseed in Human Nutrition. AOCS Press, Champaign IL. 384 pp.
Hypothermic 1 *
Hypouricemic 1 *
ICAM-1-Inhibitor 1 *
Ileorelaxant 1 *
Immunomodulator 12 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 189.
Immunostimulant 13 Cunane, S. and Thompson, L. U., eds. 1995. Flaxseed in Human Nutrition. AOCS Press, Champaign IL. 384 pp.
Immunosuppressant 3 *
Inflammatory 1 *
iNOS-Inhibitor 2 *
Inotropic 2 *