The Onion.

Botanical name: 

Cepa.

A common plant in our gardens, known at sight by its hollow tubular leaves. It grows two feet and a half high. The leaves are long, rounded, of the thickness of a man's finger, and hollow. The stalk is round also, and has at the top a round cluster of little flowers, these are of a mixed purplish and greenish colour; and of a strong smell, as has the whole plant.

The root is the part used; it is roundish, and composed of a great multitude of coats laid one over another. A syrup made of the juice of onions and honey, is excellent for an asthma.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.