86 HYPOXIS ERECTA. STAR-GRASS. 



physician, who flourished about the year 60 of our era ; and it 

 will be admitted that the name is far from being- clear, and 

 leaves room for guessing, when it is considered that its literal 

 meaning is "bird's milk," — a very strange fluid, no doubt, and 

 difficult to connect with anything relating to a flower. Very 

 naturally this curious name has given rise to a good deal of 

 speculation, and an old French writer, Louis Liger d'Auxerre, 

 tries his hand at the enigma as follows : " If we ins^Dect the 

 etymology of Oi'uitJiogalon we will find that it signifies lac 

 gallhia, or hen's milk. It must be only in raillery by sup- 

 posing that hens gather milk by eating of the leaves of this 

 plant. But our better way will be to believe with Marcellus, 

 who tells us it was so called from the whiteness of its flowers, 

 which resembles the whiteness of milk." This, of course, refers 

 to the true OrnitJwgahim, the flowers of which are white, while 

 those of the genus Hypoxis are all yellow. There is also an 

 ancient fable connected with the name, which may interest, and 

 which we therefore give the reader. According to this fable, 

 Ornithogalon was the son of Afros, and of Ania, his wife. This 

 couple lost all of their six children, with the exception of Ornith- 

 ogalon, who, in consequence, was jDetted and spoiled. Hardly 

 anything was good enough to feed him on, and the chief dainty 

 for him was a " milk which appeared round the yolk of a lightly 

 boiled egg," the yolk being rejected for fear of overloading his 

 delicate stomach. Nothing, indeed, was thought of but cook- 

 ing for him, and his education and future prospects were entirely 

 neglected. But at last the parents died and left no estate, and 

 poor Ornithogalon, not having the means to live as he had been 

 accustomed, pined away, and soon followed his father and mother 

 to the grave, when he was turned by the gods to a flower. 



The true Omithogahun is the pretty little white flower, well 

 known as the " Star of Bethlehem." In the earlier times the 

 Hypoxis erecta was sometimes called " Yellow Star of Bethle- 

 hem," or, as Barton has it, "Yellow Bethlehem-Star"; but at 

 present its generally received common name is " Star-Grass." 



