Bright Yellow Onion

Allium moly luteum is one of several alliums in the garden.  Allliums (a grouping that includes garlics, leeks, and onions) are mentioned in various Shakespeare plays.  In Henry V, a leek represents the Welsh nation (as it is associated with St. David, the patron saint of Wales); a Welshman defends himself against racialized mockery and asserts his belonging within the English army, his honour, and his national pride as a Welshman by forcing the mocker to eat a leek (5.1.).   In All’s well that Ends Well, an older man uses onions to explain his happy tears in a reunion scene, saying “I smell onions; I shall weep anon” (5.3).  In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom the weaver is transformed with a Donkey’s head while rehearsing for a play, and he becomes the lover of the Fairy Queen–the only human in the play to have direct direct contact with the divine, spirit, or more-than-human realm.  After he is transformed back into his regular human shape, when he is preparing with his fellow actors to perform for the Duke, he tells his fellow performers “eat no onions and garlic, for we must utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy” (4.2).   For more on Bottom, see Schubert’s Onion.