Israel native plants: Urginea undulata

Urginea undulata, Drimia undata, Undulate Sea Squill, Undulated Sea Onion,
Hebrew: חצב גלוני, Arabic: عنصل متموج

Scientific name:   Urginea undulata (Desf.) Steinh.
Synonym name:   Drimia undata Stearn.
Common name:   Undulate Sea Squill, Undulated Sea Onion
Hebrew name:   חצב גלוני
Arabic name:   عنصل متموج
Family:   Liliaceae, Lily family, שושניים


Life form:   Geophyte
Stems:   20-50 cm
Leaves:   Basal rosette, linear-oblong, undulate-sinuate, appearing after flowers
Inflorescence:   8 to 30-flowered raceme
Flowers:   Purple, greenish purple, Perianth-segments with a reddish mid-vein; style longer than stamens
Fruits / pods:   Capsule three-sided, numerous seeds, flattened, winged
Flowering Period:   August, September (stunning foliage in February)
Habitat:   Shrub-steppes
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts
Chorotype:   Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral
Derivation of the botanical name:

Urginea, named for an Arabian tribe in Algeria, known as Ben Urgin.

undulata, waved, wavy.
Drimia, Greek δριμύς, -εῖα, -ύ (adj). = acrid, pungent, referring to the bulbs which can irritate the skin.
The Hebrew name Hatsov appears in the Mishnah, Kil’ayim ( prohibitions) A 8; chatsov, also hatsuva; Aramaic: hatsuva, חצובא. [In the Mishnah, Kil’ayim A 8, Section three: The sea squill is a bulbous plant whose roots grow deep. It seems that planting the young fig in the sea squill would help cool it by providing shade. However, this is kilayim and is therefore prohibited.]

  • The standard author abbreviation Desf. is used to indicate René Louiche Desfontaines (1750 – 1833), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Steinh. is used to indicate Adolp[e] Steinheil (1810 – 1839), an Alsatian (Alsace region of France) botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Stearn is used to indicate William Thomas Stearn (1911 – 2001)), a Swedish botanist, a British botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.