Ban Piaj / Secret Night Squill
Drimia indica
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan & more
- Flowering
- December-May
How to identify Ban Piaj
Identify Ban Piaj by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Flowers appear on a leafless stalk after leaves die back.
- Confirm leaf shape: Strap-like/grass-like.
- Confirm flower colour: White.
- Confirm flower arrangement: Raceme.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: December-May.
- In India, compare location records such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Drimia indica
- Genus
- Drimia
- Family
- Liliaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Dry deciduous forests and also in the plains
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Distribution
- India, Myanmar, Nepal, Tropical Africa
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttarakhand
- Flowering & fruiting
- December-May
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Strap-like/grass-likerecorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Ban Piaj itself; the rest are typical of the Liliaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Whiterecorded
- Flower arrangement
- RacemerecordedIndividual stalked flowers arranged along a central stem, opening from bottom to top.“The flowers are widely spaced on the raceme, which is 15–31 cm long, and are carried on stalks (pedicels) 2.5–4 cm long.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“Between six and nine seeds are produced in a capsule which is 1.5–1.8 cm long.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Raceme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Ban Piaj itself; the rest are typical of the Liliaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- बन प्याज ban piaj, जंगली कांदा jungli kanda, जंगली प्याज jungli piaj
- Nepali
- बन प्याज ban pyaaj
- Bengali
- জংলি পিয়াজ jongali piyaz, জংলি পিয়াজ
- Tamil
- ஆசுக்காயம் acukkayam, நரிவெங்காயம் nari-venkayam, நாயுள்ளி nay-ulli, நரிவெங்காயம்
- Telugu
- నక్క nakka
- Kannada
- ಬಿಳಿ ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ bili eerulli, ಕಾಡು ಬೆಳ್ಳುಳ್ಳಿ kaadu bellulli, ಕಾಡೀರುಳ್ಳಿ kaadirulli
- Malayalam
- കാട്ടുള്ളി kaattulli, കാൻതെങ്ങ kaanthenga, നരിവെങ്കായം narivenkayam
- Marathi
- रान कांदा ran kanda
About Ban Piaj
Secret Night Squill (Drimia indica) is a herb in the Liliaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and 8 other states. It grows in dry deciduous forests and also in the plains. Flowering and fruiting run from December to May.
Liliaceae
Lily Family
Ban Piaj belongs to the Liliaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
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