Plant
Scallion
Allium fistulosum
Also known as: Allium fistulosum, green onion, spring onion, Welsh onion, negi, pa, cong
A perennial bunching onion native to East Asia, distinct from the common bulb onion (*Allium cepa*) in not forming a true bulb. The defining green allium of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese cooking — Japanese *negi*, Korean *pa*, Chinese *cōng*, Vietnamese *hành lá*. Grown for both the white shaft and the green tops, used raw and cooked, as garnish and as a foundational base aromatic. The English term *scallion* is used loosely in North America to also include young immature *Allium cepa* (true 'green onions'), but the dedicated bunching scallion is botanically and culinarily distinct.
Scientific
Allium fistulosum is in family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Allioideae — the alliums were moved out of Liliaceae and then Alliaceae over the 2000s-2010s reclassifications). A clumping perennial that produces tight upright hollow cylindrical leaves from a slightly thickened white shaft at the base — the shaft elongates but does not form the swollen storage bulb characteristic of Allium cepa. The species name fistulosum — “tube-like” — refers to the hollow leaves.
Cool-season, frost-hardy, and tolerant of repeated cutting; one of the easiest perennial alliums to grow. In commercial production, scallions are usually sown densely and harvested whole when the shaft is 1–1.5 cm thick. Some Japanese negi cultivars are blanched with mounded soil to produce 30+ cm of white shaft for premium use.
North American naming confusion. In North America “scallion,” “green onion,” and “spring onion” are used interchangeably and may refer either to true A. fistulosum or to immature seed-sown A. cepa (common onion) harvested before bulb formation. Most supermarket “green onions” in the U.S. are actually immature A. cepa; East Asian groceries are more likely to carry the true A. fistulosum scallion, often labeled negi, pa, or cong.
Cultural
Scallion is the green allium of East Asian cuisine. Japanese negi — both the thin green aonegi and the thick blanched naganegi — is foundational to ramen, hot pot, yakitori, and miso soup; finely sliced kizami negi is the ubiquitous bowl-topping. Korean pa anchors pajeon (scallion pancake), pajori (scallion salad), and the green-onion ribbons in bibimbap. Chinese cōng is the cōng-of-cōng-yóu-bǐng (scallion pancake), the bed-of-scallions for steamed fish, the aromatic of countless stir-fries. Vietnamese hành lá finishes pho and noodle soups; scallion oil (mỡ hành) is poured over grilled meats and broken rice.
The “Welsh onion” English name is a historical misnomer — the species is not from Wales but from East Asia; “Welsh” here is from an archaic English welsche meaning “foreign,” applied to a non-bulb-forming onion that didn’t fit the European pattern.
Global production
Cultivated extensively across East Asia — China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam — and increasingly worldwide as East Asian cuisines have globalized. China is the dominant producer by volume. In Mexico, the cebolla cambray / cebolla de cambray is the equivalent green allium and is grown widely for fresh-market use.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Shares approach with: [[onion]] · [[shallot]]
- Member of: [[plants]]
Sources
- USDA Agricultural Research Service — Allium fistulosum
- Japanese Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) negi statistics
- Wikipedia — Scallion, Allium fistulosum
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