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
LEAD 0 Bulb 0.0 1.4 not available Duke, 1992 *
LEUCINE 2 Bulb 410.0 4469.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
LINOLEIC-ACID 27 Bulb not available not available not available 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 Duke, 1992 *
LITHIUM 11 Bulb 0.2 0.3 not available Duke, 1992 *
LOPHENOL 0 Bulb not available not available not available Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
LUTEIN 15 Bulb not available 0.0 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.
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 Duke, 1992 *
MALIC-ACID 15 Bulb not available not available not available 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 not available not available not available 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 Duke, 1992 *
MANGANESE 14 Seed not available 19.4 -0.43 Duke, 1992 *
MELATONIN 23 Bulb not available not available not available 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 not available 0.0 -1.00 Duke, 1992 *
METHANETHIOL 0 Bulb not available not available not available Wealth of India.
METHANOL 2 Bulb not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
METHANOL 2 Leaf not available not available not available 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 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
Scabicide 1 Martindale's 29th
Schizophrenigenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Sclerosant 1 Martindale's 29th
Secretogogue 2 Newall, C. A., Anderson, L. A. and Phillipson, J. D. 1996. Herbal Medicine - A Guide for Health-care Professionals. The Pharmaceutical Press, London. 296pp.
Secretomotor 1 Duke, 1992 *
Sedative 7 Duke, 1992 *
Sequestrant 1 Aloe Research Council - Duke writeup of non-peer reviewd book by Coats and draft by Henry
Serotoninergic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Sialogogue 1 Martindale's 29th
Soap 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Spermicide 3 Martindale's 28th
Spermigenic 2 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Squalene-Monooxygenase-Inhibitor 1 Duke, 1992 *
Succinate-Dehydrogenase-Inhibitor 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.
Sunscreen 3 Lazarova*, G., Kostova, I., Neychev, H. 1992. Photodynamic damage prevention by some hydroxycoumarins. Fitoterapia 64(2): 134-136, 1993.
Suppository 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Surfactant 1 Schulz, V, Hansel, R and Tyler, VE. 1998. Rational Phytotherapy - A Physician's Guide to Herbal Medicine. 3rd ed. 1st English Edition. Translated by Terry C. Telger. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg. 306 pp.
Sweetener 3 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Teratogenic 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.
Teratologic 2 Duke, 1992 *