Species
+

Drimia indica (Roxb.) Jessop

Indian-squill, Secret Lily, Secret Night Squill, white squill

Climate known 23 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Drimia indica is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. It is a bulbous geophyte native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina.

Text from Wikipedia, “Drimia indica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Drimia

Drimia is a genus of African, south European and south Asian flowering plants. In the APG IV classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. When broadly circumscribed, the genus includes a number of other genera previously treated separately, including Litanthus, Rhodocodon, Schizobasis and Urginea.

Text from Wikipedia, “Drimia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
(Roxb.) Jessop
Native to
Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India +7
Wild records
29 in range· 13 open

At a glance

Warmest month
38°C
May, mean day; nights 26 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1031mm/yr
5 wet months · peak Jul 335 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–47DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Drimia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a rainy season, July to September in the northern hemisphere, at the year's mean temperature, so called neither winter nor summer. Habitat rain 1031 mm a year, wettest July at 335 mm, driest February at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 47 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 11.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Albuca reflexa K.Krause & Dinter; Aletris littoralis J.Koenig; Aletris littoralis J.Koenig ex Steud.; Anthericum hyacinthoides Willd.; Anthericum hyacinthoides Willd. ex Kunth and 29 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Drimia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a rainy season, July to September in the northern hemisphere, at the year's mean temperature, so called neither winter nor summer.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the year's rain (738 mm of 1031 mm) falls in July to September, whose mean temperature, 26.6 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 26.3 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1031 mm a year, wettest July at 335 mm, driest February at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1031 mm a year at the habitat, 738 mm of it July to September. Wettest month July at 335 mm, driest February at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 841 mm to 3285 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 47 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 47 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 11.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 11.4 °C, the absolute minimum 8.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 10.3 °C to 19.1 °C), warmest day 37.6 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 44 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 38 °C in May; mean night from 15 °C in Jan to 26 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1031 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 23 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 8.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°39.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)8.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter020040060080010001200mm rainDLI 24–47RH 44–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 23 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–3030 / 27–3234 / 31–3537 / 34–3838 / 35–4034 / 30–3730 / 27–3329 / 26–3230 / 28–3232 / 29–3429 / 27–3228 / 24–30
Night °C15 / 10–1916 / 13–2019 / 17–2223 / 21–2526 / 23–2826 / 23–2824 / 22–2624 / 21–2523 / 20–2521 / 19–2419 / 16–2216 / 12–20
Rain mm3 / 1–211 / 0–153 / 1–176 / 1–2024 / 5–53144 / 63–541335 / 112–1199242 / 131–820161 / 129–46887 / 17–16720 / 9–1315 / 0–65
DLI33 / 29–3438 / 35–3943 / 42–4447 / 43–4746 / 42–4836 / 30–4126 / 22–3124 / 21–3231 / 27–3534 / 31–3632 / 28–3331 / 27–32
RH %50 / 45–5946 / 44–5744 / 40–5746 / 37–5752 / 40–5957 / 50–6965 / 58–7567 / 60–7562 / 57–7154 / 47–6249 / 45–6149 / 45–59

Each figure is the median across the 23 grid cells holding the 26 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1376:5021 (21.175, 71.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 23 distinct grid cells holding the 26 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1376:5021 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.00_71.250, lapse-corrected +165 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 262 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
Kew's description“bulbous geophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.525, 73.265 · in the densest population, 10 records (34% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 29 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 13 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 39 km away. 108 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 3 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 29 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Drimia indicaDrimia indicaDrimia indicaDrimia indicaDrimia indicaDrimia indicaDrimia indicaDrimia indica

Photographs: rosshawkins, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Hopeland, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Malaika Mathew Chawla, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); S.MORE, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Drimia indica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Drimia indica: A Plant Used in Traditional Medicine and Its Potential for Clinical Uses
Sonali Aswal, Ankit Kumar, Ruchi Badoni Semwal, Ashutosh Chauhan (2019) · Medicina
An improved method of genome size estimation by flow cytometry in five mucilaginous species of Hyacinthaceae
Sayantani Nath, Sanjaya K. Mallick, Sumita Jha (2014) · Cytometry Part A
Green Synthesis of Selenium Nanoparticles Utilizing Drimia indica: Insights Into Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activities
Fuad Ameen, Norah Salem Almalki, Rawan M. Alshalan, Penislusshiyan Sakayanathan (2024) · Microscopy Research and Technique
Traditional foraging for ecological transition? Wild food ethnobotany among three ethnic groups in the highlands of the eastern Hindukush, North Pakistan
A. Khan, Muhammad Adil, Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Renata Söukand (2023) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Zingela (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae), a distinct new urgineoid genus from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Neil R. Crouch, Mario Martínez‐Azorín, Manuel B. Crespo, Michael Pinter (2018) · Phytotaxa
EXTRACTION AND SUGAR COMPOSITION OF MUCILAGE IN URGINEA INDICA/DRIMIA INDICA (ROXB) KUNTH HYACINTHACEAE
B. D. Misra, M. N. Shiva Kameshwari (2016) · International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Phytochemical Analysis of Drimia Species
Hanjabam Joykishan Sharma, Nahakpam Surjalata Devi (2017) · International Journal of Applied Science - Research and Review
Chromosomal variations in twelve ecotypes of a medicinal plant Drimia indica (Roxb.) Jessop: karyotypes and 2C DNA content analysis
Padmaja Patel, Subrat Kumar Dehery, Satya Narayan Jena, Chinmay Pradhan (2023) · Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Drimia 107 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 29 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.