1853 
* ORNITHÓGALUM chloroleticum. 
Green and White Ornithogalum. 
HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. LILIACE&. 
ORNITH OGALUM.—Supra, vol. 8. tab. 158. 
tudine, filamentis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis conformibus laciniis periant 
brevioribus, sepalis petalisque oblongis obtusis. 
Folia sepius racemi longitudine, aliquando breviora. Flores parvi, 
patentes. Ovarii loculamenta polysperma, ovulis imbricatis alatis ascen- 
dentibus. Stigma 3-fidum. 
O. chloroleucum ; foliis acuminatis canaliculatis strictis racemi corymbosi si c 
ü 
Found not uncommonly in the vicinity of Ms rur 
whence it has been brought by several collectors. It is the 
* « An ancient name, adopted by the Latins from the Greeks, evidently de- 
rived from opme, opvidoc, a bird, and yada, milk ; but its application has 
proved a stumbling block to most etymologists. Ambrosinus presumes the word 
may allude, either to the shining milky-white of the flowers, like that of a hen's 
egg; or to the white egg-shaped bulbs. Tournefort supposes the flowers, being 
green when closed, and white when expanded, may have been compared to the 
wings of several birds. Linnaeus first gave the true explanation, in suggesting 
(Mant. 364. Preclect. in Ord. Nat. 287.) that the O. umbellatum appears to 
be the “ dove's dung,” mentioned in the 2nd Book of Kings, chap. vi, 5. 25, as 
having fetched so high a price during the siege of Samaria. It is recorded by the 
sacred writer, that a quarter of a cab of dove's dung then sold for five pieces of 
silver; and the rabbinical commentators, taking the words literally, have asserted, 
absurdly enough, that it was used as fuel. As the plant grows copiously in 
Palestine, whence the English name, Star of Bethlehem, and the roots are still 
in common use for food in that country, the name is explained by the resem- 
blance in the colours of the flower to the dung of birds, the white or milky parts 
of which, their urine, is contrasted with dull green, exactly as in the petals of 
this original species of the genus before us, and which appears to be the very one 
described by Dioscorides.”— Smith. 
