Drimia maritima

Description

This plant grows from a large bulb which can be up to 20 cm wide and weigh 1 kg. Bailey reported weights of up to fifteen pounds (seven kilograms), probably referring to a clump. Several bulbs may grow in a clump and are usually just beneath the surface of the soil. In the spring, each bulb produces a rosette of about ten leaves each up to a meter long. They are dark green in color and leathery in texture. They die away by fall, when the bulb produces a tall, narrow raceme of flowers. This inflorescence can reach 1.5-2 m in height. The flower is about 1.5 cm wide and has six tepals each with a dark stripe down the middle. The tepals are white, with the exception of those on the red-flowered form. The fruit is a capsule up to 1.2 cm long.

Ecology

This plant often grows in rocky coastal habitat, especially in the Mediterranean Basin, where it is common. Its habit of producing leaves in the spring and flowers in the fall is an adaptation to the Mediterranean climate of its native range, where the summers are hot and dry.

This species has two different pollination syndromes, entomophily and anemophily; it is pollinated by insects and wind. Insect pollinators include the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), the Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis), and the paper wasp species Polistes gallicus.

Uses

The plant has been used as a poison and as a medicinal remedy. The main active compounds are cardiac glycosides, including unique bufadienolides such as glucoscillaren A, proscillaridine A, scillaren A, scilliglaucoside and scilliphaeoside. The plant can have a cardiac glycoside content of up to 3%. Scilliroside, the most important of the toxic compounds, is present in all parts of the plant. The broad leaves of this plant, when they completely dry out, lose their toxicity and are consumed by cattle and sheep. In Palestine and Israel, Arab farmers are known to use the plant to mark the butts and bounds of farm land, on account of the plant's distinct features. In Israel, it is traditionally considered a "harbinger of fall", and its Hebrew name "hatzav" shares a linguistic root with the words to dig or quarry, much like the bulb digs its roots into the ground.{{cite web | title=Despite intense heatwaves, traditional harbinger of fall is blooming on time in Israel|website=The Times of Israel |location=Tel-Aviv|date=2025-08-12 |url= https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/despite-intense-heatwaves-traditional-harbinger-of-fall-is-blooming-on-time-in-israel/}}

Medicine

This species has been used as a medicinal plant since ancient times. It is noted in the Ebers Papyrus of the 16th century BC, one of the oldest medical texts of ancient Egypt. Hippocrates used it to treat jaundice, convulsions, and asthma. A solution of sea squill and vinegar was a common remedy for centuries. The plant is also used as a laxative and an expectorant.

Poison

The plant has also been used as a poison. It is very bitter, so most animals avoid it. Rats, however, eat it readily, and then succumb to the toxic scilliroside. This has made the plant a popular rodenticide for nearly as long as it has been in use as a medicine.

It has also been tested as an insecticide against pests such as the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum).

Spiritual use

Pythagoras and Dioscorides recorded that people hung the bulbs with sprouted leaves outside the door in spring as protection against evil spirits.

Ornamental use

The tall inflorescences are used as cut flowers in floristry.

Gallery

File:Drimia maritima-pjt.jpg|In habitat File:Hazav.JPG|Form File:Urginea Maritima.jpg|Bulb and foliage File:Drimia maritima Infllor 2010-10-03 SierraMadrona.jpg|Inflorescence File:PetraUrgineaMaritima.jpg|In cultivation File:Vespa orientalis 2.jpg|With pollinator Vespa orientalis File:Wild Drimia Maritima Flowers.jpg|Flowers in Iran File:Wild Drimia Maritima in Iran.jpg|Wild plants in Iran

References

References

1. Lansdown, R.V.. (2018). "''Drimia maritima''".
2. "Drimia maritima". [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]].
3. (2009). "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
4. {{GRIN
5. [http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Drimia-maritima.htm ''Drimia maritima'' (maritime squill).] {{webarchive. link. (October 29, 2013 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.)
6. Liberty Hyde Bailey, "Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture" (1935 edition) Volume 3 page 3417
7. Dafni, A. and R. Dukas. (1986). [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00984864#page-1 Insect and wind pollination in ''Urginea maritima'' (Liliaceae).] ''Plant Systematics and Evolution'' 154(1-2), 1-10.
8. Gentry, H. S., et al. (1987). [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02858974#page-1 Red squill (''Urginea maritima'', Liliaceae).] ''Economic Botany'' 41(2), 267-82.
9. Metin, M. and B. Bürün. (2010). [http://www1.unifi.it/caryologia/past_volumes/63_4/05.pdf Effects of the high doses of ''Urginea maritima'' (L.) Baker extract on chromosomes.]{{dead link. (January 2018)
10. Shmida, Avi. (2005). "MAPA's Dictionary of Plants and Flowers in Israel". MAPA Publishers.
11. Al-ʻĀrif, ʻĀrif. (1937). "History of Be'er Sheva and its Tribes". Shoshani Publishing Co..
12. (2013). "Work and Customs in Palestine". Dar Al Nasher.
13. [[Pythagoras]] wrote about it in the 6th century BC.Hollman, A. (1992). [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1024900/pdf/brheartj00030-0082.pdf Plants in cardiology: Medicinal plant discovery.] ''British Heart Journal'' 67(6), 506.