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Category  Expectorant.

       Indian Squill is the bulb of Drimia indica (Roxb.) Jessop [Urginea indica (Roxb.) Kunth] (Family Asparagaceae), collected soon after the plant has flowered, divested of dry, outer membranous coats and usually cut longitudinally into slices and dried.

Origin of plant  Indian Squill is native to India, particularly Western Himalayas, Bihar, Konkan, and along the Coromandel Coast.

Constituents  Indian Squill contains steroid glycosides such as scillarens A and B.  It also contains flavonoids, sterols, alcohols, fatty acids, and mucilage.

Description  Odourless or almost odourless.
Macroscopical  Curved or irregularly shaped strips, 10 to 50 mm long, 3 to 10 mm wide, 1 to 3 mm thick, often tapering towards each end, occasionally grouped tree or four to a portion of the axis; ridged in the direction of their length and varying in colour, from pale yellowish brown to buff; brittle when dry, but tough and flexible when exposed to air.
Microscopical  Powdered drug of Indian Squill shows epidermis, mesophyll and vascular bundles.  Epidermis:  thin-walled tetrahedral to hexahedral cells, three to five times longer than wide; cuticle striated, thick; stomata rare, anomocytic, circular in outline.  Mesophyll:  thin-walled polygonal cells containing mucilage and some containing bundles of acicular crystals of calcium oxalate.  Vascular bundles:  collateral, scattered throughout the mesophyll; xylem vessels with spiral and annular wall thickening; trichomes and starch absent. 

Other relevant information
It is contra-indicated in patients who are on digitalis glycosides. Consuming in large doses may cause nausea and vomiting.

Packaging and storage  Indian Squill shall be stored in a dry place at a temperature not exceeding 25°.

Identification  The mucilage contained in the cells of the mesophyll is stained red with alkaline corallin TS and reddish purple with 0.01 M iodine.

Total ash  Not more than 6.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.7).

SQUILL, INDIAN, POWDERED

Complies with the requirements for Identification and Total ash described under Indian Squill and with the following requirements.

Description  Buff coloured; very hygroscopic.  Diagnostic structures:  numeours acicular crystals of calcium oxalate, the larger ones frequently broken; abundant cells containing mucilage, some with embedded calcium oxalate crystals; the mucilage is stained red with alkaline corallin TS and reddish purple with 0.01 M iodine; lignified vessels with spiral and annular thickening; fragments of epidermis with very infrequent stomata.

Packaging and storage  Powdered Indian Squill shall be kept in tightly closed containers with suitable desiccants, protected from light, and stored at a temperature not exceeding 25°.