Drimia intricata
Plant Family
Asparagaceae (Previously listed in the Hyacinthaceae).
Binomial Name
Drimia intricata (Baker) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt
Synonymous Binomial Names
Anthericum intricatum Baker, Asparagus cuscutoides Burch. ex Baker, Drimia cuscutoides (Burch. ex Baker) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt, Schizobasis angolensis Baker, Schizobasis buchubergensis Dinter, Schizobasis cuscutoides (Burch. ex Baker) Benth. & Hook., Schizobasis dinteri Krause, Schizobasis gracilis R.E.Fr., Schizobasis intricata (Baker) Baker, Schizobasis macowanii Baker, Schizobasis schlechteri Baker. Source: SANBI (2018).
Common (Vernacular) Names
Climbing onion. Africakaans: Lesbol; voldtruiskos (ostrich food)
Plant Characteristics
Endemicity. Found over a wide range in Africa, from South Africa north to Ethiopia and from Tanzania west to Angola (Trager 2004). Generally grows in stony locations.
Growth Habit. A bulbous perennial plant. The bulbs are translucent green to yellow-brown, of a maximum diameter of about 5cm and grow in thick clusters partially below the soil level. The stems are green, wiry and leafless, similar in appearance to dill. Small filiform leaves, usually 1-2, form on the bulbs of young seedlings; these are lost before the stems appear.
 Drimia intricata |
Flowers. Small, white, three-merous flowers. Plants grown in our area bloom often.
Seeds. The seeds are dropped from the capsules as they mature and open. They have the appearance of flattened, course ground black pepper.
 Seeds of Drimia intricata |
Conservation Status
This species widespread and common, not in danger of extinction (SANBI 2018).
CITES Listing: Drimia intricata was not found on CITES Appendices I, II or III (CITES 2018).
IUCN Listing: No assessment of this species has been reported on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ [IUCN 2018].
U.S. Endangered Species Act Listing Status: Not listed (FWS 2018).
Uses
Ornamental. This interesting plant requires minimal care and is suitable for use as a dwarf bonsai subject indoors in containers.
Traditional Medicinal Uses. Traditional herbalists in Natal use this species as a substitute for Bowiea volubilis. This may be due to morphological confusion of the two species or they may elicit a similar biological response (Jäger and Staden1995).
Cultivation
Seeds of this plant are available on the Internet but the plants are not common in commerce.
Propagation
This plant is easily propagated from bulb offsets or from seed. The seed should be planted near or on the soil surface. Use sandy, finely-divided, well-draining media. The seedlings grow very slowly.
Improved Cultivars
Improved cultivars of this species have not been developed.
Pests and Diseases
We have not observed significant problems with diseases in growing this plant outdoors in our area. Snails and slugs may attack the bulbs.
Invasiveness Potential
Seedlings from seeds dropped on the ground at our facility were rapidly overgrown by chickweed, spurges and other common weeds. Snails and slugs, abundant in our area will attack the bulbs and eventually kill the plant. From these observations we believe it is unlikely to naturalize here.
Hawai‘i-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA) Program. We requested the program to assess the invasiveness potential of this plant under the synonym Schizobasis intricata since we could find no records of prior introductions in Hawaiʻi. HPWRA completed the assessment and assigned it an assessment score of 1.0, indicating low risk (HPWRA 2018). It has been designated as a Pono Plant, a good choice for planting in Hawaiʻi.
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Global Invasive Species Database. This species was not found on the database (GISD 2018).
Toxicity
Potentially Toxic. While this plant has been referred to as ‘climbing onion’ and ‘ostrich food’ we could find no reports of its use as food by humans or livestock. A closely related species Drimia sanguinea (Transvaal slangkop) contains bufadienolide cardiac glycosides that may cause acute, noncumulative intoxication in livestock. Interestingly, these glycosides are also secreted by certain toads found in South Africa to protect against predators. Other Drimia species such as D. altissima (“maerman”) and D. physodes are occasionally implicated in intoxication (Botha, no date). Red squill, a rat poison is was made from Drimia maritima.
Jäger and Staden (1995) conducted a phytochemical screening of D. intricata for cardiac glycosides and found that it contained 2-deoxy sugars, common components of cardiac glycosides. However, comparative chromatographic screening showed that D. intricata bulbs do not contain cardenolides nor any Bowiea-type bufadienolides. Other unknown bufadienolides may, however, be present in this plant.
Plants and Seeds for Sale
Availability
Seeds.
Hawaiian grown seeds are available from our Online Store.
Nursery Stock. We offer non-certified, Hawaiian grown bulbs of this species for sale from our Online Store. Our plants are multigenerational descendants (bulb offsets and seedlings) derived from ISI 2004-36, an International Succulent Introduction of the Huntington Botanical Gardens in 2004 (Trager 2004). Seeds of the original plant were collected by C. Hanson in 1990, just south of Janesenville, East Cape, South Africa. Our plants appear to be self-fertile and produce viable seeds.
Improved Cultivars. Not available.
Shipping Information
Our non-certified bulbs cannot be shipped to the states of AZ, CA, LA and TX.
References
Botha C. 2018. Afrivet. Cardiac Glycoside Intoxication. www.afrivip.org/sites/default/files/cardiac_glycoside_intoxication_complete_2.docx [accessed 13 October 2018].
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Appendices I, II, and III valid from 4 October 2017. https://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php [accessed 13 October 2018].
FWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). 2018. Endangered Species Home. Search Endangered Species Database. https://www.fws.gov/endangered/ [accessed 13 October 2018].
GISD.(Global Invasive Species Database) 2018. http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/search.php searched on 13 October 2018. http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/
HPWRA (Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment). 2015. Schizobasis intricata http://www.plantpono.org/files/Schizobasis%20intricata.pdf [accessed 13 October 2018].
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). 2018. Version 2018-1. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [accessed 12 October 2018].
Jäger AK, Staden JV. 1995. Screening for cardiac glycosides in Schizobasis intricata. S Afr. J Bot. 61(2):101-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0254-6299(15)30486-5.
Long, C. (compiler) 2005. Swaziland ‘s Flora – Swati Names and uses. http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/clusagelist.asp?uid=2&pg=29 [accessed 12 October 2018].
SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute). 2018. Red List of South African Plants. Drimia intricata. http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=3812-38 [accessed 13 October 2018].
Trager JN. 2004. ISI 2004-36. Schizobasis incricata (Baker) Baker. http://www.huntington.org/botanicaldiv/isi/ISI2004/2004-36.html [accessed 13 October 2018]. Originally published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal 76(2), March-April, 2004.
Page last updated 12 October 2018