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Japanese Bunching Onion🌿
Allium fistulosum
ネギ
A perennial (cultivated as annual to biennial) native to China. An essential vegetable in Japanese cuisine used as a garnish, in hot pot dishes, and as a soba topping. Broadly divided into white leek types (naga-negi) and green types, with the Kanto region preferring the white shaft and Kansai preferring the green leaves. Its pungency and aroma enhance the flavor of dishes.
Identification Points
- ✓Tubular (hollow) leaves are characteristic
- ✓Base turns white when soil is mounded around it (blanching)
- ✓Spherical white umbel inflorescence
- ✓Both leaves and base have a distinctive sulfurous aroma
Habitat
Fields, farmland, and home gardens
Season
Sowing: spring–autumn; harvest year-round
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Parallel
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf shape
Linear
Growth form
Herb
Petal count
3 petals
Petal fusion
Free
Habitat
Cultivated
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Plant sex
Hermaphrodite
Aromatic
None
Phylogenetic Positionヒガンバナ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Monocots > Asparagales > Amaryllidaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene
Evolution Notes
Belongs to the same genus (Allium) as onion, sharing allyl sulfides as a common defensive compound. Independently domesticated in China and believed to have reached Japan before the Yayoi period.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification