But the white onions, called βόλβιναι, are fuller of good juice than the common onions; but they are not so good for the stomach, because the white portion of them has a certain thickness in it. Yet they are very tolerably wholesome, because they have a good deal of harshness in them, and because they promote the secretions. And Matron, in his Parodies, mentions the βολβίνη—
But sowthistles I will not even name,
Plants full of'marrow, crown'd on th' heads with thorns;
Nor the white onions, minstrels of great Jove,
Which his dear Child, incessant rain, has nourish'd
Whiter than snow storms, and like meal to view,
Which, when they first appeared, my stomach loved.