Scientific: Drimia maritima (Synonym: Urginea maritima)
Common: red squill, sea squill, sea onion
Family: Hyacinthaceae
Origin: Red squill is native to rocky outcroppings hillsides and slopes and sandy, coastal areas along the Mediterranean Ocean coast.
Pronounciation: Dri-MI-a mar-IT-i-ma
Hardiness zones:
Sunset 12-24
USDA 8-11
Character: Rosetting, clumping, bold, mesic looking, very clean.
Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous perennial forb growing to 2-feet tall with equal spread, basally clumping from bulbs that rest at ground level. The bulbs split dichotomously from the apex rather than forming basal offsets. Over time each plant will grow massive clumps of up to 20 bulbs per plant.
Foliage/Texture: Elongated and succulent, sword like green leaves, glaborous (smooth and shiney), up to 2-inches long, leaves turn a dull bluish-green when drought steessed; coarse texture.
Flowers & Fruits: Beautiful stalks of white flowers sometimes tinged with purple-red striations on the sepals.
Seasonal Color: Flowers durng the late summer or late autumn; however, this jewel of a plant rarely flowers in Phoenix (bummer!).
Temperature: Suprisingly tolerant of desert heat.
Light: Shade to mostly full sun. But avoid strong western exposures.
Soil: Tolerant
Watering: Though ever so slightly drought tolerant in the lower desert, regular supplemental water is required for best performance.
Pruning: None required except removal of old, senescent flower stalks.
Propagation: Division of clumps, seed.
Disease and Pests: None
Additional comments: Red squill is a surprisingly tough plant. It performs amazingly well under almost full sun conditions in Phoenix. The bulb scales are odorless or with a slight odor, and have a mucilagenous, bitter acrid and disagreable taste....not for muching on.Biomedical perspectives: Red squill is long known to have medicinal properties. One wouldn't expect that to be true given its relatively large green leaves and short stature. The red bulb (variety rubra) contains the rat poison "scilliroside", whilst the white bulb (normal bulb color) is used as a cardiotonic. The most important medical property of the red squill is its ability to stimulate heart activity. Red squill has been subjected to severe uprooting and collection of the bulb's fleshy scales by pharmaceutical companies in its native range.
Ethnobotanical folklore: Ancient Egyptians called red squill "Ein Sit" for the god who resists the sun, since it only blooms in autumn. According to tradition, red squill was planted in the vicinity of Arab graves to protect them.
