Species · Liliaceae

Onion

Allium cepa. Liliaceae, genus Allium. What this plant is called and where it is recorded, plus the published numbers the keystone holds so far.

Rank
species
Names
117 in 53 languages
Numbers
4 (4 with a source)
Keystone status
partial

Names

No scientific synonyms are recorded for this name.

English: bulb onion, common onion, cultivated onion, Garden Onion, Onion, Shallot, Spring Onion.

In other languages

  • Arabic: basal, بصل شائع
  • Belarusian: Цыбуля рэпчатая
  • Bengali: পিয়াজ
  • Catalan: Ceba
  • Chinese: 洋葱, 洋蔥
  • Croatian: Luk
  • Czech: cibule kuchyňská
  • Danish: Kepa-løg, kepaløg, Løg
  • Dutch: Ui
  • Estonian: harilik sibul, Sibul, söögisibul
  • Finnish: ruokasipuli, sipuli
  • French: ail oignon, Ail oignon, Oignon, Échalote, Échalote, Echalote, ognon commun, Oignon, Oignon, Ail oignon
  • German: Gemeine Zwiebel, Küchen-Zwiebel, Küchenzwiebel, Kuechen-Zwiebel, Schalotte, Zwiebel
  • Greek: kremmydi, Κρεμμύδι
  • Hebrew: בצל הגינה
  • Hindi: प्याज
  • Hungarian: Vöröshagyma
  • Indonesian: Bawang, Bawang Merah
  • Italian: cipolla, Cipolla comune
  • Japanese: タマネギ
  • Korean: ogba, yangba, 양파
  • Lithuanian: Valgomasis svogūnas
  • Macedonian: Кромид
  • Norwegian (Bokmål): hageløk, kepaløk
  • Norwegian (Nynorsk): hagelauk, kepalauk
  • Polish: Cebula, Cebula zwyczajna, Czosnek cebula
  • Portuguese: Cebola
  • Romanian: Ceapă
  • Russian: Лук, Лук репчатый
  • Serbian: Црни лук
  • Slovak: cibuľa kuchynská
  • Spanish: Cebolla, Cebolla cabezona
  • Swedish: kepalök, lök, matlök
  • Tamil: வெங்காயம்
  • Telugu: ఉల్లిపాయ
  • Thai: หอมใหญ่
  • Turkish: soğan, Sogan
  • Ukrainian: Цибуля городня
  • Welsh: Nionod, Nionod Hau, Nionyn, Nionyn Hau, Sibols, Sibolsyn, Wnionyn, Wynionyn, Wynwynyn
  • aka: Gyeene
  • gla: Uinnean
  • hye: Գլուխ սոխ
  • jav: Brambang
  • kat: ხახვი
  • mar: कांदा
  • mlt: Tewma bajda
  • nor: kepaløk
  • ori: ପିଆଜ
  • sin: රතු ලූණු, ලොකු ළූණු
  • tgl: Sibuyas
  • tsn: segwere
  • urd: پیاز

Names with no language recorded: bremeda, Cebolha, Chirungu basoali, cucut, Dongolo mena, ogba, onion, Porum, Sebulias, tsurúpsi, uyuri, yangba, Zwüfé, ᏒᎩ, ᱯᱮᱭᱟᱡᱽ.

Where it is recorded

Taxonomy record sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA_PLANTS_CATALOG (Public Domain). Loaded from the botanica open cultivated-plant knowledge base and the GBIF backbone; each row keeps its origin.

Growth stages

  • Initial: about 15 days (FAO 56 Table 11: planted April, Mediterranean)
  • Crop development: about 25 days (FAO 56 Table 11: planted April, Mediterranean)
  • Mid-season: about 70 days (FAO 56 Table 11: planted April, Mediterranean)
  • Late season: about 40 days (FAO 56 Table 11: planted April, Mediterranean)

What the sources say it wants

Each line shows the band, then the kind of source and the citation. "Published" means the number is printed on the cited page; "derived" means it was computed from published numbers with the formula recorded on the row; "external API" rows are refreshed nightly from a live source; "curated" rows are OAT's own working values from June 2026.

Whole cycle

ZoneMeasureBandSource
Root zoneRoot-zone EC (dS/m)up to 1.2 (warning above 1.8, alert above 2.8)published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 29, 1985

Initial

ZoneMeasureBandSource
TimingCrop coefficient, initial stage (ratio)0.7published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998

Mid-season

ZoneMeasureBandSource
TimingCrop coefficient, mid-season (ratio)1.05published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998

Late season

ZoneMeasureBandSource
TimingCrop coefficient, end of season (ratio)0.75published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998

Cultivar groups with their own numbers

The species row above carries the species-level bands. These groups differ enough in the sources that they keep their own rows.

Onions (green)

  • Crop coefficient, end of season (ratio) at late season: 1 published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998
  • Crop coefficient, initial stage (ratio) at initial: 0.7 published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998
  • Crop coefficient, mid-season (ratio) at mid season: 1 published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998

Onions (seed)

  • Crop coefficient, end of season (ratio) at late season: 0.8 published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998
  • Crop coefficient, initial stage (ratio) at initial: 0.7 published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998
  • Crop coefficient, mid-season (ratio) at mid season: 1.05 published: FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 1998

Keystone status

Partial. The KEEP rule asks for a growth stage and a band in each of light, air and root zone before a crop counts as complete; this plant is in the keystone with what its sources give so far.

Generated 2026-09-15 from the OAT plant keystone. Source types and citations are carried on every row; the keystone snapshot that the Library instruments read is plant-targets.json and its quality sheet is plant-targets.quality.json.