My father in England always sowed spring onions for the early salads.I could see no diffrenece between these and all the other Allium cepa seedlings.I only grew Allium fistulosum ,and still do, as a curiosity.But these days I have quite a few various Allium species for culinary use.In the meadows and roadsides here is A.vineale quite good as leafage in earliest salads as it comes up in midwinter.I have no idea what the real difference is here between cives,ciboule,civette etc.Ciboulette is A.schoenoprasum ,chives in english.They maybe forms of A. fistulosum.Also prized in southern France are A.ampeloprasum ,poireaux perpetuel/poireau des vignes.I have this but find it not very easy in my colder and damper climate. I also have from wild pyrenean stock the beautiful pest A.oleraceum.it, is the worst of the spreaders but has a beautiful flesh pink tassel of flowers.It must not be grown anywhere near a garden!Put it on a rough bank. Mark Mark W.Brown 1924,route de la mer 76119 Sainte-Marguerite-sur-mer Seine Maritime Normandy France > Message du 11/02/09 14:09 > De : "Jim McKenney" > A : "'Pacific Bulb Society'" > Copie à : > Objet : Re: [pbs] culinary muscari - on topic > > > Carlo wrote: Clifford Wright in 'Mediterranean Vegetables' writes that > scallions > green onions and spring onions all refer to Allium fistulosum, the > differences between them attributable to cultivars (a nice word to > find in a cookbook!). > > Carlo, thats a very different take than the one Im used to. Although > American seed catalogs do list some cultivars of Allium fistulosum, most of > what we see/grow as scallions are non-bulbing Allium cepa (as I understand > it). > > I dont remember seeing the term green onions until relatively recently > (within the last decade or so). Ive always understood green onions to be > bulbing onions in a very early stage of development (before the bulb > develops much). Locally, the term is often used for the earliest Vidalia > type onions sold with their green tops still attached. > > The term spring onions in my experience if often used for scallions (and as > I know it, the word scallions refers to those early-harvested non- or only > slightly-bulbing forms of Allium cepa and A. fistulosum). > > Wright might be correct if what he means is that Allium fistulosum is > sometimes called green onions, spring onions or scallions; but if he means > that those terms are to be applied exclusively to Allium fistulosum, I > think he is mistaken. Is Wright a British writer? If so, the terms probably > have a different usage pattern there, and that would help explain his > statement. > > Ive read, for instance, that the word scallion is still used sometimes in > British usage to refer to what we would call shallots. > > Ill have to look for Wrights book. > > Jim McKenney > jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone > 7 > My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ > BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ > > Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS > Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ > > Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > >