This article is about the edible plant common in Western cuisine. Percentages are roughly approximated using US cilantro vs culantro for adults. Chives, scientific name Allium schoenoprasum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers.

A perennial plant, it is widespread in nature across much of Europe, Asia, and North America. Allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds. Chives are a commonly used herb and can be found in grocery stores or grown in home gardens. The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. The seeds are produced in a small, three-valved capsule, maturing in summer. The herb flowers from April to May in the southern parts of its habitat zones and in June in the northern parts. Chives are the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds.

Sometimes, the plants found in North America are classified as A. Although chives are repulsive to insects in general, due to their sulfur compounds, their flowers attract bees, and they are at times kept to increase desired insect life. It was formally described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication Species Plantarum in 1753. Varieties have also been proposed, including A.

The Flora of North America notes that the species is very variable, and considers recognition of varieties as “unsound”. Chives are native to temperate areas of Europe, Asia and North America. In middle Europe, it is found within Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. Chives are grown for their scapes and leaves, which are used for culinary purposes as a flavoring herb, and provide a somewhat milder onion-like flavor than those of other Allium species. Chives have a wide variety of culinary uses, such as in traditional dishes in France, Sweden, and elsewhere.

Anders Jahan Retzius describes how chives are used with pancakes, soups, fish, and sandwiches. In Poland and Germany, chives are served with quark. Chives are one of the fines herbes of French cuisine, the others being tarragon, chervil and parsley. The flowers are also edible and are used in salads, or used to make blossom vinegars. Chives thrive in well-drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6-7 and full sun. They can be grown from seed and mature in summer, or early the following spring. In cold regions, chives die back to the underground bulbs in winter, with the new leaves appearing in early spring.

When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base. During the growing season, the plant continually regrows leaves, allowing for a continuous harvest. Chives are susceptible to damage by leek moth larvae, which bore into the leaves or bulbs of the plant. They were sometimes referred to as “rush leeks”. It was mentioned in 80 A. Marcus Valerius Martialis in his “Epigrams”.

He who bears chives on his breath, Is safe from being kissed to death. The Romans believed chives could relieve the pain from sunburn or a sore throat. They believed eating chives could increase blood pressure and act as a diuretic. Romani have used chives in fortune telling.

Bunches of dried chives hung around a house were believed to ward off disease and evil. In the 19th century, Dutch farmers fed cattle on the herb to give a different taste to their milk. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e. Tropic Cooking: The New Cuisine from Florida and the Islands of the Caribbean. Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Science. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew”. Clinal morphological variation of Allium schoenoprasum in eastern North America”.

Altervista Flora Italiana, Erba cipollina, wild chives, Civette, Schnittlauch, Allium schoenoprasum L. The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification, p. Which flowers are the best source of nectar? Gräslök, from Den virtuella floran, retrieved on June 13, 2006, The facts mentioned on the site apply to Sweden, which is in the northern part of the habitat zone.