Pyaj / Common Onion
Allium cepa
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal & more
How to identify Pyaj
Identify Pyaj by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Pungent onion-scented bulb.
- Confirm leaf shape: Tubular, hollow.
- Confirm flower colour: White.
- Confirm flower arrangement: Umbel.
- In India, compare location records such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Amaryllidaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Pyaj.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Allium cepa
- Genus
- Allium
- Family
- Amaryllidaceae
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Tubular, hollowrecorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Basal
Characters marked “recorded” are for Pyaj itself; the rest are typical of the Amaryllidaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Whiterecorded“The inflorescence takes the form of a rounded umbel of white flowers with parts in sixes.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Flower arrangement
- UmbelrecordedFlower stalks all radiate from a single point, like umbrella ribs.“The inflorescence takes the form of a rounded umbel of white flowers with parts in sixes.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Umbel
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Pyaj itself; the rest are typical of the Amaryllidaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- प्याज pyaj
- Tamil
- வெங்காயம்
- Telugu
- ఉల్లిపాయ
- Marathi
- कांदा
- Bengali
- পিয়াজ
- Odia
- ପିଆଜ
- Urdu
- پیاز
- Sinhala
- රතු ලූණු, ලොකු ළූණු
About Pyaj
Common Onion (Allium cepa) is a species in the Amaryllidaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal and 11 other states.
Uses
It is grown for parts that are eaten and a source of dye or tannin.
Amaryllidaceae
Amaryllis Family
Pyaj belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Amaryllidaceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Pyaj or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides