CLASS VI. ORDER l.^ ORNITHOGALUM. 479 



or less bitter and acrid. The Scilla maritima, which grows abun- 

 dantly on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, is much used in medi- 

 cine as an expectorant and diuretic, in the form of pill, powder, 

 tincture, or oxyrael ; but if taken in too large a dose it produces 

 sickness and purging. The bulb is large, firm, white, with thick fleshy- 

 coats ; and for medical purposes it is cut into thin slices and dried in 

 the sun ; it is commonly known by the name of Spanish Squill^ or 

 Sea Onion. 



GENUS XII. ORNITHOGALUM.— -Linn. Star of 



Bethlehem. 



Nat. Ord. AsPHHo'DELEiE. R. Brown. 



Gen. Char. Perianth of six persistent pieces. Stamens inserted 

 into the base of the perianth, the three outer ones with the Jila- 

 ments dilated at the base. Stigma small, capitate. Fruit a 

 three angled, three furrowed, three celled capsule. Seeds ovate 

 or angular. — Name from o^nq, a bird; and yocXoc^ milk. The 

 derivation of this word appears to have puzzled all etymologists, 

 and whether it is from the resemblance of the flowers to "birds' 

 milk," (that is the while milky fluid which is more or less abun- 

 dant with the dung of birds, and is the urinary secretion,) appears 

 doubtful. The bulbs of the O. umbellatum, and probably other 

 allied species, are eaten in Palestine; and according to Linneeus, 

 were the Dove's Dung mentioned, in the following passage in 

 the 2nd Book of Kings, ch. vi, v. 25, "and the fourth part of a 

 cab of dove's dung (sold) for five pieces of silver." 

 I. O. Narbo'nense, Linn, suppl. 440, n 4. (Fig. 544.) Narbonne 

 Star of Bethlehem. Raceme elongated, many flowered; filaments all 

 dilated below ; peduncles equal, spreading in flower, erect in fruit; 

 bractea lanceolate, as long as the peduncles; leaves linear, appearing 

 before the flowers. 



Bertolonii's Amoenitates Italicse, p. 143. — Savi Bot. Etruscum, vol. 

 ii. p. 215. — Dodon Pempt. 222. — O. Pyrenaicum, Linn. — English 

 Botany, t. 499.— English Flora, p. 143.— Hooker, British Flora, vol. 

 i. p. 161.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 268. 



Bulb ovate, white, enveloped in loose torn membranous coats. 

 Leaves several radical, linear, long, spreading, channeled, with an 

 acuminated point, rounded at the back, of a somewhat glaucous green, 

 soon withering at the point, and appearing before the flowers. Scape 

 erect, round, smooth, from one and a half to two feet high, or more, 

 simple, terminating in a long racemose spike, of numerous flowers, 

 each on a round spreading footstalk, about half an inch long, which 

 becomes almost erect when in fruit, and arising from the base of a 



