What is the Yorktown Onion you may ask? I will attempt to explain the wonderful plant for you.
Though the plant is always referred to as the Yorktown Onion here, there are several other common names. In print it has been called wild onion, giant wild garlic, and wild leek.
The Yorktown onion is not native to this country, but came from the Old World. The scientific name of both our plants and those of the Old World is Allium Ampeloprasum. Allium is Latin for garlic, while Alpeloprasum means “leek of the vineyard”.
The plant probably made its way to the New World, like many other plants, by accident. Legend has it that the seeds came here during the Revolutionary War mixed with crop seeds or fodder. Regardless of how it got here, it became firmly established as a wild plant in what is now York County.
The Yorktown Onion, in this country, is native only to York County, Virginia. Though no one seems certain how it got here – purposely or accidently included in shipments of other seed – it is believed to have come from Russia via England during colonial times. It is tall and gangly but eye-catching; standing about three feet tall with a three inch purple head. There are claims that decades ago they were six feet tall with five inch heads. It is against the law to harvest or collect them.
The Yorktown Onion is protected by law, as Chapter 17, Article III, Section 17-35, Subsection B, of the Code of the County of York, Virginia, states that “…gathering or collecting the Yorktown Onion shall be prohibited”.
Besides significant historic resources, the area around Yorktown Va., contains a diversity of natural resources including extensive wetlands, miles of stream and river shoreline, forests, fields, and many species of animals and flowering plants. Colonial National Historical Park’s 8600+ acres lie within the boundaries of the counties of York, James City, Gloucester,and Surry and the City of Williamsburg. The park is within the mid-Atlantic coastal plain of Tidewater Virginia and has a direct hydrological link to the Chesapeake Bay. Most of the park extends along either the York or James Rivers, two of the largest rivers contiguous to the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Enjoy the natural and historic resources of the park while walking, bicycling, birding, fishing, photographing or during a leisurely drive along the Colonial Parkway or tour roads. Support the park and help visitors better understand, appreciate and protect these resources by volunteering or conducting research.
Onions form a large genus of about 700 species of mostly strong-smelling, bulbous or rhizomatous biennials and perennials. Alliums are native to the northern hemisphere, Ethiopia, S Africa, and Mexico, and vary in hardiness according to origin. Various species have been cultivated since the earliest times adn are universally important as vegetables, flavorings, and medicinal plants. Their typical smell is caused by sulphur compounds, which have beneficial effects on the circulatory, digestive, and respiratory systems. It varies in pungency from species to species, and a few are almost odorless. Garlic (A. sativum) is the most pungent and highest in therapeutic value. It is also one of the most ancient herbs, recorded in Babylonian times (c.3000BCE), found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (c.1370-52BCE), and consumed in large quantities by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The pervasive odor of garlic has always caused ambivalence, as in the Muslim legend that when Satan left the Garden of Eden after the Fall, garlic sprang up from his left footstep and onion from his right. There are many superstitions about garlic: it wards off vampires, causes moles to “leap out of the ground presently” (William Coles, The Art of Simpling, 1656), and, if chewed, prevent competitors from getting ahead in races. Allium sativum was first mentioned in Chinese medicine c.CE500. In Ayurvedic medicine it is known as rashona, “lacking one taste”, referring to the absence of sourness, while possessing all five other tastes (pungent root, bitter leaf, astringent stem, saline top of stem, and sweet seed). There are two main kinds of garlic: “hardneck”, which has an excellent flavor but is demanding to cultivate, does not store well, and is difficult to braid; and “softneck”, which is productive, adapatable and stores well. Allium canadense (meadow garlic/leek, wild garlic, Canada onion) has medicinal properties similar to garlic, as well as scallion-like leaves and mild-flavored bulbs and bulbils. There are hundreds of kinds of onion (A. cepa) worldwide, adapted to latitude and climate, and varying in size, color, and flavor. Allium cepa is often subdivided into three main groups: the Cepa Group (common onion), which has single large bulbs; the Proliferum Group (tree, or Catawissa onion), which produces an inflorescence constisting largely of bulbils; and the Aggregatum Group (shallot, ever-ready onion, and potato, or multiplier onion), once classified as a separate species, A. ascalonicum, which forms clusters of small bulbs. In addition to their culinary and medicinal uses, onions, in the form of their brown or red-purple skins, are used as dye for Easter eggs in many countries. Allium fistulosum known as da cong in Mandarin and negi in Japanese, is the most important Allium species grown in China, Japan and SE Asia, and is much used in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cuisines. Its medicinal uses were first described in Shen Nong’s Canon of Herbs, c.CE25-200. Allium tuberosum is less used in Chinese medicine; it was mentioned c.CE500 in Ben Jing Ji Zhu by Tao Hong JIn. Allium chinense (rakkyo, baker’s garlic) is similar to A. schoenoprasum in appearance but has brighter green, more angular leaves and shallot-like bulbs. The bulbs have a crisp texture and are used mainly for pickles. Allium ampeloprasum (Levant garlic) has several interesting forms, including leeks (Porrum Group); ‘Perlzwiebel’ which produces small solid (unlayered) “pearl onions” for pickling and the ornamental variety babingtonii (British or Welsh Leek), which is mildly leek flavored and has tall stems of bright purple flowers. The Middle Eastern Kurrat Group was found in ancient Egyptian tombs and is still cultivated today in the Middle East. It is similar to a leek but smaller, with narrower leaves and a more developed bulb, though the young leaves are the parts usually eaten. Allium ledebourianum (asatsuki, siu yuk) from China and Japan has an onion-garlic flavor. It produces chive-like green leaves and small, fleshy bulbs, known as “fire onions”. Allium scorodoprasum (rocambole, sand leek) is cultivated to a limied extent in parts of Russia for its small garlic-flavored bulbs. Closely related is Tulbaghia violacea (see wild garlic).
Perennial with a 2-lobed bulb and axillary bulbs, not enclosed in a papery skin. Purple to pink-white flowers are borne in a dense umbel and appear in summer.
So now you have an extensive knowledge of the Wonderful, Magical, and Mystical Yorktown Onion. You may order seeds and grow your own. Good Luck!
