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Asparagaceae FAMILY

Urginea maritima

Urginea maritima

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

The bulb is poisonous in large doses[1, 2]. The red form especially has a fairly specific action on rats[1, 3, 4]. The fresh bulb contains an acrid juice that can cause skin blisters[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitBulb
Growth—

Succeeds in ordinary garden soil according to one report[5], whilst another says that it requires a very free draining gritty or sandy soil in full sun[6]. The bulbs have a summer resting period and should be kept dry at this time[7]. Some protection from winter wet is strongly recommended[6]. Easily grown in a warm sunny position[8]. A very ornamental plant, it is not very hardy in Britain according to one report[5], whilst another says that it can be grown in N. European gardens[6] though it does not flower very freely there[8, 6]. Another report says that the plant can tolerate temperatures down to about -7°c[9]. The bulb should be only partially buried[6]. This species is cultivated in the Mediterranean area for its use in the drug industry[9]. The bulbs are harvested after 6 years growth with a yield of about 25,000 bulbs per hectare[9]. There are two main forms of this species, one has a white bulb and the other has a red one. The red bulb is the form that is used as a rat poison whilst the white bulb is used as a cardiotonic. Another report says that herbalists do not distinguish between the two forms[1]. Only the red form contains the rat poison 'scilliroside', though both forms can be used medicinally[9]. The bulb is very tenacious of life, one specimen that had been stored for 20 years in a museum was found to be trying to grow[1]. A good bee plant[10].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a greenhouse[7]. Sow the seed thinly so that the seedlings can be left in the pot for their first growing season. Give them regular liquid feeds when in active growth to ensure that they do not suffer nutrient deficiency. Divide the young bulbs once the plant becomes dormant, placing 2- 3 bulbs in each put. Grow them on for at least another year in pots and plant them out into their permanent positions when they are dormant. Division of offsets in late summer when the bulb is dormant[7, 9]. Larger bulbs can be replanted immediately into their permanent positions. It is probably best to pot up smaller bulbs and grow them on in a greenhouse for a year before planting them out when they are dormant in late summer. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Urginea+maritima>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  2. [2]Poisonous Plants. — Stary. F. · Hamlyn · 1983 · ISBN 0-600-35666-3 ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but easy reading.
  3. [3]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
  4. [4]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  5. [5]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  6. [6]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  7. [7]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
  8. [8]Bulbs — Phillips. R. and Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1989 · ISBN 0-330-30253-1 ↩︎Superbly illustrated, it gives brief details on cultivation and native habitat.
  9. [9]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  10. [10]Flowers of the Mediterranean. — Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. · Hogarth Press · 1987 · ISBN 0-7012-0784-1 ↩︎A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.
  11. [11]Flowers of Greece and the Balkans. — Polunin. O. · Oxford University Press · 1980 · ISBN 0-19-217626-9 ↩︎A good pocket flora, it also lists quite a few plant uses.
  12. [12]Flora Europaea — ? · Cambridge University Press · 1964 · ISBN - ↩︎An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for Europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.
  13. [13]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  14. [14]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  15. [15]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  16. [16]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.