Home » Plants and flower bulbs » Urginea maritima ‘Red Squill’ (très gros calibre)

Urginea maritima ‘Red Squill’ (très gros calibre) — Squil

This large bulb should be planted immediately, otherwise it might flower in its box. The Eremurus type flower (100-120cm high spike) appears in August well before the leaves. A typical Mediterranean plant which is found naturally in very dry habitats mostly very close to the sea. In a garden it can be well associated with agaves on arid slopes. This form produce taller spikes than the type.
CAUTION: these bulbs were formerly utilised to produce ratpoison and more recently to extract a substance (glucosides) used as heart accelarator (the pink form contains more of this substance). It has very large pink fleshed bulbs which weigh upto 1-2kg with a circumference of 50-60cm .

The genus

Formerly Urginea maritima was included in the Scilla (Sea Squil). This predominantly African genus also contains 3 Mediterranean species.

  • Family :Liliaceae
  • Subfamily :Hyacinthaceae
  • Common name :Squil
  • Native to :Côtes méditerranéennes
  • Native climate :méditéranéen (humid winters)
  • Colour :White
  • Hardiness :medium
  • Exposure :full sun
  • Storage organ :bulb
  • Growth :winter grower
  • Flowering height :150+ cm
  • Uses :Borders - Cut flowers - In the ground - Rockery

Growing cycle

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Planting
Growth
Flowering
Planting :July (sem. 1-4), August (sem. 1-4), September (sem. 1-4), October (sem. 1-1)
Growth :January (sem. 1-4), February (sem. 1-4), March (sem. 1-4), April (sem. 1-4), May (sem. 1-2), October (sem. 1-4), November (sem. 1-4), December (sem. 1-4)
Flowering :August (sem. 4-4), September (sem. 1-3)