Sea squill
Flowers at the end of the dry summer on tall, leafless white spikes; a valuable nectar and pollen source for autumn build-up on Mediterranean coasts.
- Nectar
- Good
- Pollen
- Good
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.5-1.5 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Sea squill is a large-bulbed plant growing on stony slopes and among maquis on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Its leaves appear after the autumn rains; the flower stalk, however, rises from bare ground at the end of summer, before the leaves. The spike, made up of hundreds of small white flowers, is heavily visited by bees for nectar and pollen.
Flowering
It flowers from late August to October; the spike keeps opening from the bottom upwards for weeks. This period coincides with the time when flowers are scarcest in coastal regions.
Honey and pollen
No monofloral honey is produced, but the nectar and pollen arriving while winter bees are being reared help the colony go into winter strong.
Note for the beekeeper
The bulb contains cardiac glycosides and is highly poisonous, and animals generally leave it alone; no reports are known of this passing into honey. Do not dig up bulbs from the wild; apiary sites where it spreads naturally are a good choice for autumn.