Scilla peruviana

Portuguese squill
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asparagaceae
Subfamily:	Scilloideae
Genus:	Scilla
Species:	S. peruviana
Binomial name
Scilla peruviana L.

Scilla peruviana, the Portuguese squill,^[1] is a species of Scilla native to the western Mediterranean region in Iberia, Italy, and northwest Africa.^[2]

Although the epithet peruviana means "from Peru", it is strictly a western Mediterranean species. Linnaeus named the species in 1753, noting an earlier name given to the plant by Carolus Clusius, Hyacinthus stellatus peruanus.^[3] It is said that Clusius misunderstood a statement that the bulbs came from a ship called "Peru" and thought that they came from the country.^[4]

It is a bulb-bearing herbaceous perennial plant. The bulb is 6–8 cm diameter, white with a covering of brown scales. The leaves are linear, 20–60 cm long and 1–4 cm broad, with 5-15 leaves produced each spring. The flowering stem is 15–40 cm tall, bearing a dense pyramidal raceme of 40-100 flowers; each flower is blue, 1–2 cm diameter, with six tepals.

Cultivation and uses

It is commonly grown as an ornamental plant for its spring flowers; several cultivars are available ranging in colour from white to light or dark blue, or violet. In some areas it is also known as hyacinth-of-Peru,^[2] Cuban-lily,^[2] or Peruvian scilla.

References