Welsh onion or Chives: how to tell them apart?
Welsh onion and Chives look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Welsh onion
Allium fistulosum
Chives
Allium schoenoprasum
Both form clumps of fine, hollow green stems, but the Welsh onion has much thicker stems and a slight swelling at the base, close to a small onion.
🍃 Leaves
Long, cylindrical, hollow, arranged in a clump (the part mainly eaten)
Fine, cylindrical, hollow, arranged in a dense clump (the part eaten)
🌸 Flowers
White, grouped in a dense spherical umbel at the top of a hollow flower stalk
Pink to violet, grouped in a dense spherical umbel at the top of a flower stalk
🍎 Fruits
Small 3-celled capsule
Small 3-celled capsule
🪵 Bark
Perennial herbaceous clump formed of elongated, barely swollen false bulbs
Perennial herbaceous clump formed of small tightly packed bulbs
📏 Size
30 to 50 cm tall
20 to 40 cm tall
🗺️ Habitat
Grown in the vegetable garden, ordinary free-draining soils
Grown in the vegetable garden and herb gardens, also wild in the mountains on cool soils
⚠️ Toxicity
Edible for humans, but toxic to dogs and cats (like all Allium): causes haemolytic anaemia through oxidation of red blood cells if eaten in large or repeated amounts.
Edible for humans, but toxic to dogs, cats and horses (like other Allium): can cause haemolytic anaemia if eaten in large amounts by an animal.
🔎 And from the Chives side
Both form clumps of fine, hollow green stems, but the Welsh onion has much thicker stems and a slight swelling at the base, close to a small onion.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.