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Herbs & Plants

Garlic Chives (Alum Tuberosum)

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Botanical Name: Allium tuberosum
Family: Alliaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asparagales
Genus: Allium
Species: A. tuberosum, A. ramosum
Common Name: Garlic Chives
Other Common Names: Chinese Chive, Chinese Chives, Chinese Leek, Chiu, Feng Pen, Garlic Chives, Nira, Oriental Garlic Chives

Habitat:Cultivated Beds.According to official records,  it is often cultivated as a garden plant. This is surprising, considering its aggressive nature. However, the webmaster has observed clumps of naturalized plants that were growing in 3 different locations in the Champaign-Urbana area in Champaign County, Illinois . Garlic Chives has naturalized in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska, and it seems likely that this plant has naturalized in other counties of Illinois as well. It is native to China and parts of SE Asia. So far, habitats in Illinois include a degraded meadow in a wooded area, the bank of a drainage ditch, and the edge of a yard along a sidewalk. Several clumps of Garlic Chives have persisted in the meadow for several years.

Description:
Plant Type: Perennial
Where To Plant: Full Sun to Partly Shady
Soil Types: Average
Germination: Easy
Uses: Culinary
Notes: Good pot plant, can grow in windows, good in cooking.
ALLIUM TUBEROSUM.  Has the same great garlic flavor as the previous form but features attractive mauve flowers. The most delicate member of the onion family. Chopped leaves offer great improvement to salads, soups, vegetables, omelet’s, and cheese dishes. Essential kitchen herb! Palatable as it is to humans, nasty insects stay away in droves from it and neighboring plants....CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

. The plant has a distinctive growth habit with strap-shaped leaves  unlike either onion or garlic, and straight thin white-flowering stalks that are much taller than the leaves. It grows in slowly expanding perennial clumps, but also readily sprouts from seed. Besides its use as vegetable, it also has attractive flowers

The cultivated form is Allium tuberosum while the wild form is placed as A. ramosum. Older references list it as A. odorum but that is now considered a synonym of A. ramosum. Some botanists would place both wild and cultivated forms in A. ramosum since many intermediate forms exist.

A relatively new vegetable in the English-speaking world but well-known in Asian cuisine, the flavor of garlic chives is more like garlic than chives, though much milder. Both leaves and the stalks of the flowers are used as a flavoring similarly to chives, green onions or garlic and are used as a stir fry ingredient. In China, they are often used to make dumplings with a combination of egg, shrimp and pork. They are a common ingredient in Chinese jiaozi dumplings and the Japanese and Korean equivalents. The flowers may also be used as a spice. In Vietnam, the leaves of garlic chives are cut up into short pieces and used as the only vegetable in a soup of broth and sliced pork kidneys.

Many garden centers carry it as do most Asian supermarkets.

A Chinese flatbread similar to the green onion pancake may be made with garlic chives instead of scallions; such a pancake is called a jiucai bing  or jiucai you bing . Chives is also one of the main ingredient used with Yi mein dishes.

Garlic chives are widely used in Korean cuisine, most notably in dishes such as buchukimchi ( garlic chive kimchi), buchujeon (garlic chive pancakes), or jaecheopguk (a guk, or clear soup, made with garlic chives and Asian clams).

Other Uses:
The juice of the plant is used as a moth repellent. The whole plant is said to repel insects and moles

Medicinal Uses:
Antibacterial; Cardiac; Digestive; Stomachic; Tonic.

The whole plant is antibacterial, cardiac, depurative, digestive, stimulant, stomachic and tonic. It is an anti-emetic herb that improves kidney function[238]. It is used internally to treat urinary incontinence, kidney and bladder weaknesses etc.

The seed is carminative and stomachic. They are used in India in the treatment of spermatorrhoea.

The leaves and the bulbs are applied to bites, cuts and wounds
In Chinese herbal medicine, garlic chives have been used to treat fatigue, control excessive bleeding, and as an antidote for ingested poisons. The leaves and bulbs are applied to insect bites, cuts, and wounds, while the seeds are used to treat kidney, liver, and digestive system problems.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.


Resources:

http://www.sandmountainherbs.com/chives_garlic.html
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/alltuberosum.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_chives
http://www.piam.com/mms_garden/plants.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Allium+tuberosum
http://www.eol.org/pages/1085072

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