39 
ORNITHOGALUM nanum. 
Dwarf Star of Bethlehem. 
HEXANDRIA MONOGYNTA. 
Nat. ord. LILIACEA. $ AsPHODELEX. 
ORNITHOGALUM. L. 
O. nanum ; foliis linearibus canaliculatis patulis glabris corymbo longioribus, 
corymbo breviter pedunculato patulo, pedicellis post inflorescentiam re- 
fractis, bracteis ovalibus pedicellis dupló brevioribus, filamentis subu- 
latis erectis alternis majoribus, ovario 3-lobo. 
O nanum, Sibth. Fl. Grec. 4. 28. t. 332. Tenore Sylloge app. 4. p. 13. 
Kunth. enum. 4. 365, 
This is certainly very distinct from any of the genus 
otherwise in cultivation; its stiff narrow leaves, and short- 
stalked dwarf corymbs offering characters not to be mistaken. 
Yet Bieberstein suggests its being only an early variety of O. 
umbellatum, a conjecture to which we cannot assent. 
A pretty little hardy bulb which grows freely in very rich 
sandy loam, and flowers in March. It is easily increased by 
seeds, or by dividing the old bulbs when in a dormant state, 
It was received from the Hon. and Very Rev. the Dean 
of Manchester, and is said to have been gathered in marshy 
meadows at Berbeck, near Constantinople. According to 
Sibthorp it occurs in dry hills in Arcadia, and about Abydos, 
and this may account for the very different appearance of the 
plant of the Flora Græca, which, if the same as this, is in a 
starved condition. 
