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Chives

Chives

Allium schoenoprasum

Identify the Chives from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Common

Chives is a small, clump-forming relative of onions with neat, round purple flower heads. In the wild it favours rocky, sunny places and it is also widely grown in gardens as a herb.

Did you know?

  • Its nectar-rich flower heads attract butterflies such as blues and fritillaries.
  • The same plant is commonly grown as a kitchen herb.

About the species

Identification

Perennial forming tight clumps from an onion-like base, 5–25 cm tall. Leaves are hollow, smooth and very narrow (about 1–2 mm), like green tubes. Stems are slender and round, ending in a dense, almost spherical cluster 1.5–5 cm wide. The many small, star-like flowers are pale blue‑purple. After flowering, small dry seed pods develop. Easy to tell from grasses by its round, hollow leaves. Other onions often have broader or flat leaves or looser flower heads; chives has very fine tubular leaves and a neat round purple head. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

rock, meadow, yards and roadsides, shore

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Sunny, open places on rocks and dry grass, especially by the sea; also appears near settlements as a garden escape. Common in southern and western Finland; scattered elsewhere. Occurs both as a native plant and from cultivation.

Sources

Photo: Sporlo, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chive flower close-up.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Kaisaniemen kasvitieteellisen puutarhan evoluutiopuutarha - Yksisirkkaiset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39990

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39990

Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtön luontopolku, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39990

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruohosipuli

See also