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The Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) belong to Liliaceae (the Lily family). It is a perennial herb that is distributed from the northern part of the Tohoku region on Honshu to Hokkaido in Japan, as well as in northern Xinjiang in China, the Russian Far East, Siberia, Europe, and North America. It grows in mountainous grasslands and on coastal gravelly soils, reaching a height of 30 to 50 cm. It is said to have been cultivated in Europe as early as 2000 years ago. From around May to June, spherical inflorescences form at the tips of the leaf sheaths, producing small peach-purple flowers. It is also known as "ezo-negi" or "seiyou-asatsuki" in Japan. In Chinese, it is called "北葱" (bei cong).
It is an exotic plant that does not grow naturally in Korea, and in Korean it is called "cha-i-bu" (차이브), a name derived from its English name.
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