Witnessed by: Western
Squill (Drimia maritima), of the Asparagaceae family. A very large bulb sitting half out of the ground, throwing a tall bare raceme of white flowers in autumn and a rosette of broad leaves afterwards; native range: the dry coastal hills and sands of the Mediterranean basin, from Spain and Morocco to the Levant. Globally recognized as squill, sea onion, sea squill in English, basal-ul-unsul in Arabic, scille in French, and Meerzwiebel in German. The part used is bulb — the inner and middle scales of the white variety, the outer papery coats and the central core rejected. Curved translucent yellowish-white slices of scale, tough and horny when dry and clammy in damp air; mucilaginous at first, then bitter, then a long acrid burn, and the fresh juice raw on the skin will redden and blister it.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
SQUILL
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- squill
- Scientific name
- Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn
- Family
- Asparagaceae
Form
- Part used
- bulb — the inner and middle scales of the white variety, the outer papery coats and the central core rejected
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- bitter · acrid · mucilaginous
Temperature
- Western
- warm
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- lungs · heart · kidneys · bladder
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- stimulating expectorant, cardiac tonic, diuretic, emetic in full dose
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy; acute inflammation of the stomach, bowel or kidney; any patient taking a cardiac glycoside; potassium depletion
Toxicity: the bulb carries the cardiac glycosides scillaren A and B — overdose brings nausea, violent vomiting, purging, slowed and irregular pulse, and death by cardiac arrest; the red squill is a rat poison; the fresh bulb blisters the skin of those who slice it
Interactions
- Western
- cardiac glycosides: the squill's own scillaren adds to the digitalis load and brings on glycoside toxicity · diuretics: potassium loss from the diuretic sensitises the heart to the squill's glycosides
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