Drimia maritima - sea squill

sea squill, sea onion, red squill, white sguill • Català (Catalan): ceba d'ase, ceba marina, ceba porrera, ceba rotja • Español: cebolla albarrana, cebolla de grajo, ceborrancha, escila, esquila • Française: scille maritime, grande scille, oignon marin • Hrvatski (Croatian): morski luk • Italiano: scilla marina • Português: cebola albarrã, cebola do mar, cila • Türk (Turkish): ada soğani • Ελληνική (Greek): σκυλοκρεμμύδα

עברית (Hebrew): חצב מצוי • العربية (Arabic): العنصل الأحمر

Synonymy: Charybdis maritima (L.) Speta 1998; Ornithogalum maritimum (L.) Lam. 1779 or (Tournf.) Brot.; Scilla maritima L. 1753; Urginea maritima (L.) Baker 1873; U. scilla Steinh. 1834

The large bulbs of Drimia maritima, which grow just below the soil surface (or are sometimes exposed), can attain a large size (12-22in/30-55cm circumference) and are dense & heavy. Rather than producing basal offsets, these true bulbs split dichotomously and eventually form a large clumps of 10-20 heads. The roots are very efficient at finding water deep within dry, stony soil.

Sometime from July-October (depending upon the region), the 3-5ft/1-1.5m inflorescence emerges from a dry, dormant bulb, even when removed from the ground. This dramatic stalk from bare ground is striking (see poem below), but it unfortunately does not last well when cut. The star-shaped flowers open from the bottom of the spike towards the top, the spent flowers keeping their petals which close over the developing ovary. The petals are usually pure white, though some clones have a distinct pink midrib and pinkish flowered forms are also known. The ripened seed capsule splits into 3 parts, revealing approximately 20-30 flattened, lightweight black seeds which are dispersed by the wind's action on the dry spike.

As the flower spike completes blooming, the foliage starts to emerge, both in anticipation of the fall rains. The upright cluster of slightly wavy leaves can reach 1-2ft/30-60cm, are green with a slight glaucous bloom, and last through the Winter and wetter months of Spring, drying up completely when the rains cease with the onset of warm weather.

Drimia Maritima is used to heal neurological pains, skin problems, deep wounds and eye afflictions. The plant also contains materials that are used in conventional medicine to treat asthma, bronchitis and heart disorders. The bulbs were an ancient source of rodenticide products replaced later on by warfarin and modern anticoagulant raticides. Since rats have developed resistance to such modern products there is now renewed interest in this 'natural' poison.

It is also planted in the vicinity of Arab graves, to protect them, according to tradition. The Egyptians call the plant "Ein Sit", the god who resists the sun, since the plant only blooms in autumn. The Bedouin believe that whenever there is an abundance of Drimia maritima flowers, there will be a rainy winter.

Sea Squill, Bulb. Maquis, phrygana. 100-150cm.

The leafless white spires of the sea squill thrust up three feet or more. It is one of the 'purest' of the white flowers of Greece and I well remember driving to Sounion alongside a hill that had been devastated by fire a month or so earlier. Nothing was left but blackened earth, the charred trunks of pine trees and some tangled remains of bushes looking like barbed wire dipped in tar. Amid this desolation rose numerous gleaming white, curving spikes of sea squills. It was a fantastic miracle of life after death. The bulbs of these plants are enormous - often the size of one's head - and after the autumn rains they send up lush bunches of strapping great leaves.

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Like a pale ghostly finger,
a warning from down under,
the first blooming wand is sent
to sweep the cobwebs of complacency
from our sun blinded eyes.
And so, in the middle of summer's pleasure cruise,
while the sweet juice of a watermelon is trickling down our chin,
on our skin that has grown used to feeling free air,
the flower is drawn, pointed at our hearts and we remember
that indeed it has come out here last year as well.
But in spite of our excellent memory
it always catches us off guard.

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I've been walking in Drimia/Urginea country today and looking at plants and thinking. The plants were growing on open dry stony ground which is typical.

Most bulbous species pull themselves down into the soil with contractile roots as they grow to maintain themselves at the 'correct' depth. But, in stony ground this must be difficult or impossible especially for a very large Drimia bulb. So my thought today is not that they need or 'want' to be exposed on the surface but rather that they can survive being exposed if they cant pull themselves down. The fact that they are poisonous to grazing animals and rodents means that they can survive on the surface unmolested. The stony ground means that there are few competing plants to shade out the leaves and compete for water and nutrients.

Thats my thought for the day.

. . .by the way they looked lovely...sorry I didn't have my camera with me - I could have shared a photo or two.

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I found my Drimia on the Island of Crete near Sitia when my husband and I went hiking in the hills. It was just lying on the surface, and we thought perhaps it had been kicked up by goats. I had no idea what it was, and the hotel manager told me the flowers would be yellow and fragrant. I brought it home and it turned out to be what I managed to identify as "sea squill".

That was more than 25 years ago. It has been very happy on my unwatered slope in coastal Los Angeles and has multiplied. I enjoy the handsome big leaves as well as the flowers. This year there are far more flowers than usual and I don't know whether to attribute it to my winter temperature of 24°F (-4°C), the lack of rain (3in / 8cm), or the recent heat wave (100°F / 38°C).

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I've been looking for bulbs of Urgiunea maritima for a long time now. There is a great stand of them at the Arboretum down here (in Arcadia, inland from Los Angeles). They are incredible and wondrous and thrive here!

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Of course there many bulbs which grow right on the seaside such as: Pancratium maritimum (ever green with deliciously parfumed white flowers in July), Urgiunea maritima (very large bulbs with Eremurus like tall spikes in August-September), Asphodelus aestivus which to be found every where in the sanddunes in the Camargue.

Apart from these sand dunes dwellers there are many other bulbs which support the sea-sprays without any problem such as Tulbaghia violacea, Narcissus tazetta italicus, and Leucojum aestivum.

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Trevor Nottle - author & horticultural consultant, Crafers, South Australia, AU

The sea squill loves all the sun it can get; loves well drained pebbly soil, not rich, and the bulb about half out of the ground. Make no fuss over it - not sure about how it goes in frost or snow - lives on the seacoast around Spain, southern France, Italy, Greece. Grows in winter and loses leaves in summer, flowers in autumn.

I find it very hardy and it usually flowers every year. The winter foliage is terrific - a rosette of slighly wavy long dark green leaves. It would grow easily from seed but may take 4 - 5 years to flower. Looks especially good planted in large drifts.

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Gentry, H. S., Verbiscar, A. J., Banigan, T. F. 1987. Red Squill (Urginea maritima, Liliaceae). Economic Botany. Vol.41, No.2 (Apr-Jun, 1987): pp. 267-282. Springer on behalf of New York Botanical Garden Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4254966

Scicluna-Spiteri, Anthony. 1989. Drimia maritima (L) in Malta: the growth, quality and commercial potential of Maltese squill. University of Bradford.

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