View source for Chives

{{Taxobox
| '''color = lightgreen'''
| name = Chives
| image = Illustration Allium schoenoprasum0.jpg
| image_width = 200px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| subregnum = [[Tracheobionta]]
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Liliopsida]]
| subclassis = Liliidae
| ordo = [[Asparagales]]
| familia = [[Alliaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Allium]]''
| species = '''''A. schoenoprasum'''''
| binomial = ''Allium schoenoprasum''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}
{{Otheruses1|the plant Chives}}

'''Chives''' (''Allium schoenoprasum'') are the smallest [[species]] of the [[onion]] family<ref name="tropic">{{cite book
 | last = LaFray
 | first = Joyce
 | year = 1987
 | title = Tropic Cooking: The New Cuisine from Florida and the Islands of the Caribbean
 | publisher = Ten Speed Press
 | location = Oakland
 | id = 0898152348
 | pages = 292
}}</ref> [[Alliaceae]], native to [[Europe]], [[Asia]] and [[North America]]<ref name="mobot">[http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=J270 Allium schoenoprasum factsheet], from Kemper center for home gardening, ''retrieved on June 13, [[2006]]''</ref>. They are referred to only in the plural, because they grow in clumps rather than as individual plants. ''Allium schoenoprasum'' is also the only species of ''Allium'' native to both the [[New world|New]] and the [[Old World]]. 

Its species name derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''skhoinos'' ([[Cyperaceae|sedge]]) and ''prason'' (onion).<ref>[http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/mono/allia/alliu/allisch.html Gräslök], from Den virtuella floran, ''retrieved on June 13, [[2006]]'' </ref> Its [[English language|English]] name, ''chive'', derives from the [[French language|French]] word ''cive'', which was derived from ''cepa'', the [[Latin]] word for onion.<ref name="hc">[http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa022398.htm Chives], from homecooking.about.com, ''accessed on June 13, 2006''</ref>

Culinary uses for chives involve shredding its leaves (straws) for use as condiment for [[fish]], [[potato|potatoes]] and [[soup]]s. Because of this, it is a common household [[spice]], frequent in gardens as well as in grocery stores. It also has insect-repelling properties which can be used in gardens to control pests.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Kaufman
 | first = Peter B
 | coauthors = Thomas J Carlson, Kaufman B Kaufman, Harry L Brielmann, Sara Warber, Leland J Cseke, James A Duke
 | year = 1999
 | title = Natural Products from Plants
 | publisher = CRC Press
 | location = [[Boca Raton]]
 | id = 084933134X
 | pages = 261
}}</ref>