white squill

squill

 [skwil]

1. any of various plants of the genus Urginea, especially U. maritima or U. indica.

2. the fleshy inner scales of the bulb of U. maritima or U. indica; a distinction is made between those with white bulbs (white squill) and those with red bulbs (red squill).

red squill

1. a variety of Urginea maritima that has red bulbs.

2. the fleshy inner scales of the bulb of this plant, a source of the cardiac glycoside scilliroside; it can cause convulsions or cardiac arrest and is used as a rodenticide.

white squill

1. a variety of Urginea maritima that has white bulbs.

2. the fleshy inner scales of the bulb of this plant; it contains several cardioactive glycosides.

Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

sea onion

Herbal medicine
A cabbage-like plant that grows in the sandy soils of the Mediterranean rim and South Africa. Of the two variants—red and white squill—the latter is of greater use as a herb, as it has less of the toxin scilliroside; the active principles in squill are antitussive, cardiotonic (due to scillarens A and B), diuretic and expectorant.

Toxicity
Scilliroside is a potent emetic, and was formerly used as a rat poison.

Segen's Medical Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.