1853 



* 0RNITH6gALUM chloroleucum. 

 Green and White Ornithogalum. 



HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Liliace^. 

 ORNITHOGALUM.—Supra, vol. 8. tab. 158. 



O. chloroleucum ; foliis acuminatis canaliculatls strictis racemi corymbosi longi- 

 tudine, filamentis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis conformibus laciniis perianthil 

 brevioribus, sepalis petalisque oblongis obtusis. 



Folia scBpius racemi longitudine, aliqudndo breviora. Floras parvi, 

 patenfes. Ovarii loculamenta polysperma, ovulis imbricatis alatis ascen- 

 dentibus. Stigma d-fidum. 



Found not nncommonly in the vicinity of Valparaiso, 

 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 opvic, opvL^OQ, a bird, and yaXa, 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. Linnseus first gave the true explanation, in suggesting 

 {Mant. 364. Preselect, 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 Dioscoridcs. " — Smith. 



