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
GLYCOLIC-ACID 4 Bulb not available not available not available Balansard, J., Arnoux, M. 1951. A Study of the Hepato-Renaldiuretics. III. The Active Principle of Onion Juice. Med. Trop. (Marseille), 11: 632-634.
GRAMISTEROL 0 Bulb not available not available not available Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
HEXADECEN-1-OL 0 Seed not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
HISTIDINE 7 Bulb 190.0 2071.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
IRON 6 Bulb 2.0 135.0 0.78 Duke, 1992 *
IRON 6 Leaf 34.0 436.0 0.18 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
IRON 6 Seed not available 235.0 0.39 Duke, 1992 *
ISOLEUCINE 3 Bulb 420.0 4578.0 -1.00 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
ISOPROPYL-PROPYL-DISULFIDE 0 Bulb not available not available not available Wealth of India.
ISOPROPYL-PROPYL-TRISULFIDE 0 Bulb not available not available not available Wealth of India.
ISOQUERCITRIN 22 Bulb not available not available not available Kiviranta, J., Huovinen, K., Hiltunen, R. 1986. Variation of Flavonoids in Allium cepa. Planta Medica, 6: 517-518.
ISORHAMNETIN 11 Bulb not available not available not available Park, Y. K., Lee, C. Y. 1996. Identification of Isorhamnetin 4'-Glucoside in Onions. J. Agric. Food Chem., 44(1): 34-36.
ISORHAMNETIN-3-GLUCOSIDE 1 Bulb not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
KAEMPFEROL 75 Bulb not available 2.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
KAEMPFEROL-3,4'-DI-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE 0 Bulb not available not available not available Tissut, M., Ravanel, P. 1980. Assessment of Flavonols in Adult Leaves of Several Vegetative Vacuoles. Phytochemistry, 19: 2077-2081.
KAEMPFEROL-3-O-SOPHOROSIDE-7-O-GLUCURONIDE 0 Epidermis not available not available not available Urushibara, S. I., Kitayama, Y., Watanabe, T., Okuno, T., Watarai, A., Matsumoto, T. 1992. New Flavonol Glycosides, Major Determinants Inducing the Green Fluorescence in the Guard Cells of Allium cepa. Tetrahedron Lett., 33(9): 1213-1216.
KAEMPFEROL-4',7-DI-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE 0 Bulb not available not available not available Tissut, M., Ravanel, P. 1980. Assessment of Flavonols in Adult Leaves of Several Vegetative Vacuoles. Phytochemistry, 19: 2077-2081.
KAEMPFEROL-4'-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE 0 Bulb not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
KILOCALORIES 0 Bulb 380.0 3750.0 1.00 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
KILOCALORIES 0 Leaf 260.0 3330.0 0.50 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
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
Antibacillary 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antibackache 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Antibacterial 32 Duke, 1992 *
Antiberiberi 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antibiotic 4 Duke, 1992 *
AntiBPH 1 Duke, 1992 *
Anticalculic 1 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer 8 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer (Breast) 5 Madhavi, D. L., Bomser, J., Smith, M., Singletary, K. 1998. Isolation of Bioactive Constituents from Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) Fruits and Cell Cultures. Plant Sci., 131(1): 95-103.
Anticancer (Cervix) 2 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.
Anticancer (Colon) 2 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer (Esophagus)? 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Anticancer (Forestomach) 1 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer (Liver) 3 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer (Lung) 1 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer (Skin) 1 Duke, 1992 *
Anticancer (Stomach) 3 Duke, 1992 *
Anticanker 3 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Anticapillary-Fragility 1 Merck 7th Ed.
Anticarcinogenic 3 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 189.