One of the best-known species is the sea squill,Drimia maritima (formerlyUrginea maritima).Drimia intricata (formerlySchizobasis intricata) is sometimes cultivated as a bulbous orsucculent plant.
Drimia species are usuallydeciduous, more rarely evergreen, growing frombulbs. The bulbs may be underground or occur on or near the surface. Each bulb has one to several leaves that are often dry by the time the flowers open. Theinflorescence is in the form of araceme, with one to many flowers. At least the lower inflorescencebracts have spurs (a characteristic of the tribe Urgineeae). The individual flowers generally last for only one to two days and have white to yellowish green or browntepals that are either free or joined into a basal tube. The tepals often have a darker central keel. After fertilization, an ovoid capsule forms with several seeds in eachlocule. The seeds are black and winged.[4]
A formal description of genusDrimia first appeared in the fourth edition ofSpecies Plantarum, published in 1799, authored byCarl Ludwig Willdenow. The name was attributed toNikolaus Joseph von Jacquin.[1][5] When describingDrimia elata (thetype species of the genus) in a work published in 1797, Jacquin said that he was unable to assign it to one of the known genera, and so constructed a new one. The name is derived from theGreekδριμεῖαdrimeia, the feminine form of the adjectiveδριμύςdrimys meaning "bitter" or "acrid", referring to the root.[6][7]
The boundaries between genera within theScilloideae are not completely settled.[4][8] The situation has been described as being in a "state of flux".[3] As early as 1977, it was suggested thatUrginea be merged intoDrimia, although other small genera continued to be kept separate. In 2000,Peter Goldblatt andJohn Charles Manning proposed including other related genera, includingLitanthus,Rhadamanthus andSchizobasis, a position supported later by somemolecular phylogenetic studies.[4] This broadcircumscription ofDrimia is accepted by theWorld Checklist of Selected Plant Families.[1] Other sources prefer to maintain a larger number of segregated genera.[9][10] Regardless of whether a broad or strict view is taken ofDrimia, it is placed in the tribe Urgineeae of the subfamily Scilloideae (or the subfamily Urgineoideae of the family Hyacinthaceae if this family is separated from Asparagaceae).[4]
The genusLitanthus was for a long time monotypic, with the sole speciesL. pusillus, before in 2000 Goldblatt and Manning included it inDrimia.[4] A further species,Drimia stenocarpa, was added to the group in 2014. TheLitanthus group is characterized by one- or occasionally two-flowered inflorescences with drooping tubular flowers whose tepals are united at the base for more than half their length.[11]
The genusRhodocodon was included inDrimia by Goldblatt and Manning in 2000.[4] The species ofRhodocodon, or theRhodocodon group withinDrimia, includingD. cryptopoda, form a well supportedclade endemic to Madagascar. They appear to be the product of a single invasion of Madagascar by an African species. A total of 13 species are recognized by those who separate the genus fromDrimia.[9]
The genusSchizobasis was included inDrimia by Goldblatt and Manning in 2000.[4] As many as eight species have been described, but in 2014 these were reduced to two:Drimia intricata, including all the previously described species, and the new speciesDrimia sigmoidea. TheSchizobasis group is distinguished by its well branched, thin-stemmed inflorescence and small,filiform leaves that are found only in seedlings, disappearing in mature plants.[12]
In addition, 10 species described in 2015, and placed by the authors inRhodocodon,[10] are, as of August 2017[update], treated as "unplaced" in the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, which does not recognize the genus; none have names inDrimia:[13]
Rhodocodon apiculatusH.Perrier ex Knirsch, Mart.-Azorín & Wetschnig
The broadly defined genus has about 130 species found in Africa, including Madagascar, the Mediterranean region and southern Asia. About half of all the species occur in southern Africa, where species diversity is greatest in semi-arid regions with winter rainfall.Drimia generally is found in regions with seasonal dryness.[4]
^abChase, M.W.; Reveal, J.L. & Fay, M.F. (2009), "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae",Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society,161 (2):132–136,doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00999.x
^Wetschnig, W.; Pfosser, M. (2003). "TheScilla plumbea puzzle – present status of the genusScilla sensu lato in southern Africa and description ofSpetaea lachenaliiflora, a new genus and species of Massonieae (Hyacinthaceae)".Taxon.52 (1):75–91.Bibcode:2003Taxon..52...75W.doi:10.2307/3647303.JSTOR3647303.
^abPfosser, Martin; Knirsch, Walter; Pinter, Michael; Ali, Syed Shujait; Dutta, Suchandra & Wetschnig, Wolfgang (2012), "Phylogenetic relationships of Malagasy Hyacinthaceae",Plant Ecology and Evolution,145 (1):65–72,Bibcode:2012PlEcE.145...65P,doi:10.5091/plecevo.2012.590
^Manning, J.C.; Deacon, J. & Goldblatt, P. (2014), "A review of theLitanthus group ofDrimia Jacq. (Hyacinthaceae: Urgineoideae) with the description of a second species,Drimia stenocarpa, from Western Cape",South African Journal of Botany,90:96–100,Bibcode:2014SAJB...90...96M,doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2013.10.006
^Manning, John; Deacon, James & Goldblatt, Peter (2014), "A review of theSchizobasis group ofDrimia Jacq. (Hyacinthaceae: Urgineoideae), and the new speciesD. sigmoidea from Western Cape, South Africa",South African Journal of Botany,94:263–269,Bibcode:2014SAJB...94..263M,doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2014.07.011
Steinheil, Adolph (1834). "Matériaux pour servir a la flore de barbarie III: Note sur le genre Urginea nouvellement formé dans la famille Liliacées".Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Botanique (in French). Second series 1:321–332.
