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''Scilla'' () is a
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of about 30 to 80 species of
bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs dur ...
-forming
perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...
herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...
s in the family
Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate ...
, subfamily
Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus '' Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family '' Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus '' Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae ...
. Sometimes called the squills in English, they are native to woodlands, subalpine meadows, and seashores throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. A few species are also naturalized in Australasia and North America. Their
flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...
s are usually blue, but white, pink, and purple types are known; most flower in early spring, but a few are autumn-flowering. Several ''Scilla'' species are valued as ornamental garden plants.


Taxonomy

Species of ''Scilla'' have been known since
classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
, being described by both Greek (
Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...
(371–287 BC) and Discorides (40–90 AD)) and Roman ( Pliny (23–79 AD)) writers. Theophrastus described '' Scilla hyacinthoides'' (''skilla''), and more briefly '' S. autumnalis'' and '' S. bifolia'' in his '' Historia plantarum'', where he mentions "those of squill" (σκῐ́λλης; '' skilles''). In classical literature, ''Scilla'' was known for its medicinal properties. Later mentions include pre-Linnaen botanists such as Fuchs (1542) and Clusius (1601), who considered many closely related plants to be types of '' Hyacinthus''. The genus ''Scilla'' has a long and complicated history in terms of its classification, circumscription and subdivision, and is not fully resolved.The
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Scilla'' was first formally described by
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
in 1753, and hence bears his name as the
botanical authority In botanical nomenclature, author citation is the way of citing the person or group of people who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the ''International Cod ...
, ''Scilla'' L.. In ''Scilla'', he included a six plants previously considered as ''Hyacinthus''. For instance, he renamed Clusius' ''Hyacinthus stellatus cinerei coloris'' as ''Scilla italica'' ('' Hyacinthoides italica'' in modern systems) and ''Hyacinthus stellatus peruanus'' as '' Scilla peruviana'', while Fuchs' ''Hyacinthus caeruleus mas minor'', he named ''
Scilla bifolia ''Scilla bifolia'', the alpine squill or two-leaf squill, is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from an underground bulb,Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982 Vol. III, pg. 365 belonging to the genus '' Scilla'' of the family Aspa ...
''. In all, Linnaeus listed eight species of ''Scilla'', from the Mediterranean area, Europe and southwest Asia, and placed the genus in the grouping ''Hexandria Monogynia'' (6
stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
, 1
pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils ...
) within his system of sexual classification (''systema sexuale''). Since he listed ''S. maritima'' (which had previously been known as scilla officinale) first this, was considered the
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...
. On the basis that the seed morphology distinguished this species from all the other Linnean ''Scilla'', Steinheil reclassified it as a member of a novel genus, ''Urginea'', now submerged in ''Drimia'' as '' Drimia maritima''. Later,
De Jussieu De Jussieu, the name of a French family which came into prominence towards the close of the sixteenth century, and was known for a century and a half for the botanists it produced. The following are its more eminent members: *Antoine de Jussieu (1 ...
(1789), using a natural system, the relative value of plant characteristics, rather than purely sexual ones, and a hierarchical system of ranks, grouped ''Scilla'' into a "family" which he called Asphodeli, along with '' Hyacinthus'' and ''
Allium ''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, D ...
''. Jaume-Saint-Hilaire (1805), while maintaining the same affiliation, recognized three species ''S. maritima'', ''S. amoena'' and ''S. italica''. By 1853, Lindley had created a very large order, the
Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair ...
, in which Scilla and related genera formed one of eleven suborders, as Scilleae. This included many genera, including ''
Camassia ''Camassia'' is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to North America. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth. It grows in the wild in great numbers in moist meadows. They are perennial p ...
'' and '' Ornithogalum''. Treatments of Scilla in the nineteenth century include those of Dumortier (1827),
Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
(1796, 1866) and
Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Si ...
(1873), with rather different approaches. Historically, ''Scilla'' and related genera were placed with
lily ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...
-like plants in the
order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
Liliales Liliales is an order of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and Angiosperm Phylogeny Web system, within the lilioid monocots. This order of necessity includes the family Liliaceae. The APG III system (2009) places ...
, for instance as the
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
Hyacintheae of the
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair ...
. The availability of
molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
methods in
taxonomic classification In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are give ...
led to major realignments of several related
monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one ...
orders, particularly with the adoption of the
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) that reflects new knowledge about plant relationships disc ...
system. Significantly, hyacinth-like plants including ''Scilla'' were initially placed in a separate family, the Hyacinthaceae in the order
Asparagales Asparagales (asparagoid lilies) is an order of plants in modern classification systems such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) and the Angiosperm Phylogeny Web. The order takes its name from the type family Asparagaceae and is placed in t ...
, specifically in the very large
subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...
Hyacinthoideae. Since 2009, the Hyacintheae, including ''Scilla'', have been considered as
Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus '' Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family '' Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus '' Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae ...
, a subfamily of the family
Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate ...
. There they are placed as one of about 21 genera in the subtribe Hyacinthinae within tribe Hyacintheae. The most closely related genera to ''Scilla'' were ''
Muscari ''Muscari'' is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth (a name which is ...
'' Mill. and '' Chionodoxa'' Boiss.


Subdivision

For some time, ''Chionodoxa'' had been considered a possible
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...
to ''Scilla bifolia'' L. and molecular methods failed to support the existence of a separate genus, but rather its specimens appeared intermixed with those of ''Scilla''. Although there are distinguishing morphological features (e.g fused
tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
bases and broadened filaments), these were considered
paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...
, having arisen in several lines within the Hyacinthaceae. Furthermore, it was observed that ''Chionodoxa'' was capable of
hybridization Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: *Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid *Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals *Nu ...
with ''Scilla bifolia''. It was therefore proposed that ''Chionodoxa'' be considered an obsolete genus and be submerged within ''Scilla''. Subsequently it was proposed that the species of Scilla be split into two
sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...
, Chionodoxa that would include those
taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
previously considered to belong in the genus ''Chionodoxa'', and ''Scilla'' which would contain the remainder.


Species

The precise number of ''Scilla'' species in the genus depends on which proposals to split the genus are accepted. In addition to creating two sections, some authorities have split the genus into a number of smaller genera. For instance, particularly the Eurasian species have been moved to genera such as ''Othocallis'' Salisb., so that ''Scilla siberica'' would become ''Othocallis siberica'', leaving a much smaller genus referred to as ''Scilla''
s.s. The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
or ''Scilla'' ''sensu'' Speta, with about 30 species. But this has not been generally accepted, leaving a much larger ''Scilla'' s.l. of about 80 species. Although the
Flora of North America The ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' (usually referred to as ''FNA'') is a multivolume work describing the native plants and naturalized plants of North America, including the United States, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenlan ...
mentions (but does not list) 50 species, World Flora Online lists 83 species, as of May 2022. Speta's scheme (1998) created 8 separate genera, but many of these are very narrowly defined being either
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
(single species) or oligotypic (very few species).


Etymology

Both the scientific genus name ''Scilla'' and the common word ''squill'' derive, via Middle English and French from the Latin ''scilla'' and Greek ''skilla'' words for the plants. The common name squill has been applied to a number of other similar taxa such as '' Drimia''..


Distribution and habitat

Native to woodlands, subalpine meadows, and seashores throughout Europe, especially the Mediterranean, Africa, especially South Africa, Eurasia, especially southwest Asia and the Middle East. A few species are also widely naturalized, particularly in Australia, New Zealand and North America.


Cultivation and uses

Many ''Scilla'' species, notably '' S. siberica'' and members of section ''Chionodoxa'', are grown in
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
s for their attractive early spring flowers.


Notes


References


Bibliography


Books

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Historical sources (chronological)

* * * * (''also at''
Botanicus The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million s ...

Rariorum plantarum
) * , ''see also''
Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...
* * * * * *


Articles

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Websites

* * ** * * (''see also''
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (or APweb) is a website dedicated to research on angiosperm phylogeny and taxonomy. The site is hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden website and maintained by researchers, Peter F. Stevens and Hilary M. Davis ...
) '' * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q157238 Asparagaceae genera