The onion is one of the earliest of cultivated species. Its original country is, according to Kunth, unknown.[215] Let us see if it is possible to discover it. The modern Greeks call _Allium Cepa_, which they cultivate in abundance, _krommunda_.[216] This is a good reason for believing that the _krommuon_ of Theophrastus[217] is the same species, as sixteenth-century writers already supposed.[218] Pliny[219] translated the word by _cœpa_. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew several varieties, which they distinguished by the names of countries: _Cyprium_, _Cretense_, _Samothraciae_, etc. One variety cultivated in Egypt[220] was held to be so excellent that it received divine honours, to the great amusement of the Romans.[221] Modern Egyptians designate _A. Cepa_ by the name of _basal_[222] or _bussul_,[223] whence it is probable that the _bezalim_ of the Hebrews is the same species, as commentators have said.[224] There are several distinct names—_palandu_, _latarka_, _sakandaka_,[225] and a number of modern Indian names. The species is commonly cultivated in India, Cochin-China, China,[226] and even in Japan.[227] It was largely consumed by the ancient Egyptians. The drawings on their monuments often represent this species.[228] Thus its cultivation in Southern Asia and the eastern region of the Mediterranean dates from a very early epoch. Moreover, the Chinese, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin names have no apparent connection. From this last fact we may deduce the hypothesis that its cultivation was begun after the separation of the Indo-European nations, the species being found ready to hand in different countries at once. This, however, is not the present state of things, for we hardly find even vague indications of the wild state of _A. Cepa_. I have not discovered it in European or Caucasian floras; but Hasselquist[229] says, “It grows in the plains near the sea in the environs of Jericho.” Dr. Wallich mentioned in his list of Indian plants, No. 5072, specimens which he saw in districts of Bengal, without mentioning whether they were cultivated. This indication, however insufficient, together with the antiquity of the Sanskrit and Hebrew names, and the communication which is known to have existed between the peoples of India and of Egypt, lead me to suppose that this plant occupied a vast area in Western Asia, extending perhaps from Palestine to India. Allied species, sometimes mistaken for _A. Cepa_, exist in Siberia.[230]