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SQUILL URGINEA (=
SCILLA) MARITIMA Take internally in doses of a few grains, it promotes the expectoration and the urine. A perennial plant with an Onion-like bulb, full of thick juice. It grows two or three feet (60 to 90 crn) high with bright green, pointed leaves some two feet (60 crn) long. The small white flowers are produced in longish spikes. Also called Sea Onion. Where to find it: It prefers dry, sandy sites and flourishes on the Italian and Spanish coasts and other parts of the Mediterranean; but it can be cultivated in gardens. Flowering time: Midsummer. Astrology: A hot, biting martial plant. Medicinal virtues: The root is bitter to the taste and so acrid that it will blister the skin if it is handled too much. In large doses it causes vomiting and sometimes purging. It is a certain diuretic in dropsical cases and an expectorant in asthmatical ones, especially where the lungs or stomach are oppressed by tough viscid phlegm, or injured by the imprudent use of opiates. Being disagreeable in taste, it is given in pill form, made from the powdered root beaten into a mass, with the addition of syrup or mucilage of gum arabic. Modern uses: Still a valuable remedy for coughs and catarrh. A small amount is added to many over-the-counter lung mixtures. It is soothing to mucous membranes and checks excessive mucous secretion. It is also expectorant and diuretic. There are several official BPC preparations containing it. It is dangerous in overdosage and therefore not recommended for domestic use. In the form of a pill, the dosage of Squill is only one to three grains (65-2oo mg). |