CHIVES
Allium schoenoprasum L.

"All in all it is good for all diseases of the body, except for the kidneys."
Otto Brunfels (16. century)

Chives are a common wild plant, which grows especially on fresh mountain meadows. Often the meadows shine lilac-coloured from all the blossoms. Alpine shepherds use to graze their herds in chives meadows for some time in order to give the milk and the cheese a certain something.

Beside parsley also chives are one of the most popular and most used seasoning herbs.

Although widely distributed in the Alpine Region, chives are not yet recorded as wild plants for the Binn valley. Who is the first to spot them?

Picture:

Thomé, Otto Wilhelm (1885 - 1905): Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. In Wort und Bild für Schule und Haus. 4 v., 572 fig., Gera-Untermhaus. © Kurt Stüber's Online Library, www.biolib.de

Small picture:

Unbekannt. Eventuell nach Fuchs, Leonhart (1543): Den nieuwen Herbarius, dat is dat boeck van den cruyden. [Ausschnitt]