English Name: Onion
Arabic Name: Basal
Urdu Name: Piaz
Family: Liliaceae | Distribution: India, Pakistan, China, Russia, America, Europe
Parts used: Rhizome, leaves, and seeds
Medicinal Uses | Allium cepa L. has been cultivated and used as a nutrient for more than 6000 years. Fresh onion juice is often recommended in the folk medicine of various countries for pain and swelling after bee or wasp stings, which are followed by an allergy-induced reaction of the skin. The observed inhibitory effects of onion extracts on those kinds of cutaneous reactions led to the discovery of anti-inflammatory and anti-asthmatic thiosulphates and cepaenes. The Egyptian papyrus Ebers mentions onion containing remedies against worm infections, diarrhea, and other infectious and inflammatory ailments. These and other prescriptions from traditional medicine have prompted several investigators in the second part of the last century to test onion extracts or onion oils for antimicrobial activities suppressing the growth of intestinal worms, fungi, and bacteria both in vivo and in vitro.
