Common Names

Like many long-cultivated plants, Egyptian Walking Onions are known by several common names. These names usually describe the plant’s unusual growth habit or visible structure, such as the bulbils that form at the top of the stalk. Names like walking onion, tree onion, top onion, and winter onion arose from everyday observation by gardeners and farmers who named the plant according to what they saw in the garden.

The Egyptian Walking Onion

Of all the different names this marvelous onion has, I like the name "Egyptian Walking Onion" the best. It was that name which drew me to this plant in the first place. I mean, an onion that walks? I had to have it!

The word “Egyptian” carries mystery. The ancient Egyptians revered the onion as a sacred symbol of eternity. Its perfect sphere and its concentric rings were believed to mirror the structure of the universe and the endless cycle of life. Onions were placed in tombs, painted on temple walls, and even set into the eye sockets of mummies. Small onions were found in the eyes of Pharaoh Ramesses IV — a startling reminder that to the ancients, the onion was not merely food, but a talisman of rebirth.

Whether the Walking Onion truly came from Egypt remains unknown. The name may reflect reverence rather than geography. Or it may be a linguistic ghost: some historians suggest “Egyptian” is a corruption of “Gypsy,” recalling the Romani travelers who may have carried these onions westward from the Indian subcontinent, across Persia and the Middle East, into Europe. A wandering people, accompanied by a wandering plant.

The Walking Onion

Unlike ordinary onions, this plant bears its offspring not in the soil but in the sky. At the top of its hollow stalk, a cluster of miniature bulbs — called topsets — forms where flowers and seeds would normally appear. As the cluster grows heavy, the stalk bends, bows, and finally touches the earth. There the topsets take root. A new colony begins. The plant advances across the garden, step by step, year by year, sometimes traveling one to three feet in a single season — and farther still if gravity or a curious cat sends the cluster tumbling downhill.

Thus it earned its most poetic and accurate name: the Walking Onion.

Read more about how they walk.

The Topsetting Onion, Topset Onion, or Top Onion

These names come from the pant's most unusual habit: producing small bulbs at the top of the flowering stalk instead of seeds. This behavior led gardeners to describe the plant as “topsetting,” meaning it sets its propagating bulbs at the top of the stalk. The small bulbs themselves are called topsets, and they serve as the plant’s primary means of reproduction.

The Winter Onion

This onion survives bitter winters and returns again in the spring. It is a true perennial onion. In zones where temperatures plunge far below zero, the Walking Onion endures, rising again each spring as if frost were merely a passing shadow. It is most fitting to call it a winter onion.

From the first cluster may rise a second stalk, and from that a second crown of topsets. From that, sometimes a third — and on rare occasions, even a fourth. The plant becomes a living candelabrum, branching and tiered, crowned with globes. To early gardeners, it resembled a small tree made of onions, and so it was called the Tree Onion.

The Sky Onion, Air Onion

The names Sky Onion and Air Onion beautifully describe the remarkable behavior of this plant: it grows onions not only in the ground, but also in the air. It produces miniature onions, called topsets, at the top of its stalk—sometimes as high as three feet above the soil.

The Medusa Onion

When green leaves unfurl from the spathe capsule in the spring, the young green cluster of topsets with their twisting leaves can resemble a head of writhing serpents like the head of the Medusa in Greek mythology.

The Snake Onion

Secondary branches sometimes twist and coil. They look for all the world like green snakes. The Snake Onion proves to be a fitting name.

Among the many folk names attached to this plant, “snake onion” appears in older agricultural references. The name likely arose from the twisting scapes and tangled topset clusters, which can resemble a small knot of serpents when the plant reaches maturity.

The Spider Onion

Sometimes topsets clusters hang above the ground from arching stalks like a spider suspended from a web. Even their leaves are splayed out like the legs of a spider. The topsets are dangling plantlets similar to the well known spider plant Chlorophytum comosum.

Scientific Names

Egyptian Walking Onions are most commonly referred to by the botanical name Allium × proliferum. The “×” indicates that the plant is a hybrid, generally believed to have arisen from a cross between the common onion Allium cepa and the bunching onion Allium fistulosum.

Like many old garden plants, the walking onion has been described under several different scientific names over time. Older references may list the plant under names such as:

• Allium cepa var. proliferum
• Allium cepa var. viviparum
• Allium cepa var. bulbiferum
• Allium cepa var. multiplicans

These names all refer to onions that reproduce vegetatively rather than from seed, producing either underground offsets or bulbils at the top of the stalk.

Egyptian Walking Onions combine both behaviors: the bulbs multiply underground while the plant also produces clusters of bulbils, or topsets, at the top of the flowering stalk.

The Latin proliferum comes from prolifer, meaning: 'to produce offspring abundantly' and 'to reproduce freely'. The species name, Allium × proliferum, literally describes a plant that multiplies readily. That name fits Egyptian Walking Onions perfectly because they reproduce in multiple ways at the same time: offsets underground (like multiplier onions) and topsets / bulbils above ground. Sometimes secondary clusters forming from the first. So the plant is constantly producing new onions, which is why botanists used the word proliferum.

The Latin viviparum comes from vivus, meaning: "alive", and parere, meaning: "to bring forth / give birth." So viviparum means to "give birth to living young" or "bearing live offspring." In botany, vivipary refers to plants that produce living plantlets instead of seeds. Egyptian Walking Onions do exactly this: they produce bulbils (topsets) that are already alive and capable of growing immediately. When the papery spathe tears open, its as if the plant has given birth to the young topsets.

The Latin bulbiferum comes from bulbus, meaning: "bulb", and -fer / ferre, meaning: "to bear or carry." Bulbiferum means "bearing bulbs" or "bearing bulb-like structures." Botanists used this term because the plant produces small bulbs (bulbils) at the top of the stalk. So an onion described as bulbiferous literally means: an onion that bears bulbs above ground.

Taxonomic Classification

• Kingdom: Plantae (plants)
• Division: Tracheophyta (vascular plants)
• Class: Liliopsida (monocots)
• Order: Asparagales
• Family: Amaryllidaceae
• Subfamily: Allioideae
• Genus: Allium
• Species: Allium × proliferum
• Hybrid origin: Allium cepa × Allium fistulosum

Named Varieties

Over time, gardeners have maintained several recognizable forms of the Egyptian Walking Onion. Unlike modern commercial cultivars, many of these varieties were preserved in home gardens and passed from grower to grower, often becoming associated with particular regions or families.

Differences between these strains may include the color of the topsets, the size and branching of the bulbil clusters, and subtle variations in flavor or vigor. Because these onions are propagated vegetatively rather than grown from seed, distinctive garden strains can persist for many generations once established.

Today a number of these heirloom forms are still known by name, reflecting the places and gardeners who helped preserve them.

Catawissa Red

The Catawissa Red is one of the most widely recognized heirloom forms of the Egyptian Walking Onion. The name “Catawissa” is believed to refer to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, where the onion was reportedly grown and distributed in the nineteenth century. According to historical accounts cited by food historian William Woys Weaver, the variety was associated with a gardener named F. F. Merceron, who helped circulate the onion among growers in the region.

Catawissa types are known for their reddish to purplish bulbils, which often form dense clusters at the top of the scape. In many plants the topset cluster may even produce secondary clusters, giving the plant a branching, tiered appearance that resembles a small tree. This prolific production of bulbils is one of the defining traits of Egyptian Walking Onions.

Missouri Red

Missouri Red is a red-skinned form of the Egyptian Walking Onion long maintained in gardens of the American Midwest. The topsets develop a deep reddish to maroon coloration, often darker than those seen in many other strains. Growers commonly note that the clusters tend to be compact and numerous, giving the plants a particularly vigorous appearance when the scapes mature. The underground bulbs also show reddish skins and a strong onion flavor typical of red onion types.

McCullar’s White

McCullar’s White is a pale-skinned heirloom strain preserved by the McCullar family of Kentucky and later distributed through heirloom seed networks. The topsets and underground bulbs are typically creamy white to light tan, lacking the red pigmentation seen in Catawissa types. Plants of this strain are often noted for producing large, well-formed topset clusters, and it has become one of the better known white forms maintained by collectors of perennial onions.

Brown Catawissa

Brown Catawissa is a traditional Catawissa-type walking onion distinguished by the bronze-brown or chestnut coloration of its topsets. The bulbils often develop a darker outer skin as they mature, giving the clusters a noticeably earthy tone compared to the brighter reds. Like other Catawissa strains, it is known for abundant topset production and branching clusters, sometimes forming secondary tiers above the first cluster.

Heritage Sweet White

Heritage Sweet White is a pale-skinned form maintained in heirloom gardens for its milder flavor compared with many other walking onion strains. The bulbils and underground bulbs are typically light straw-colored, and the greens are often described as having a gentler onion taste, making them popular for fresh use.