LILY TRIBE 253 



linear, channelled and pointed ; bulb egg-shaped. The long raceme of 

 yellowish-white flowers of this plant, which unfolds in June and July, may 

 be found in some woods and pastures of England. Though rare, it is 

 probably more truly wild than either of the other species. The Rev. C. A. 

 Johns, who remarks that it is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Bath, 

 says that the spikes of unexpanded flowers are often exposed there for sale 

 as a pot-herb under the name of French Asparagus. It grows in several 

 parts of Somersetshire, and also in Berks, Wilts, Sussex, and Bedfordshire. 

 The stalk is one or two feet high, and the leaves usually wither very early. 



2. Common Star of Bethlehem (0. wnheUdtnin). — Flowers forming 

 a corymb, the lower partial stalks very long; leaves all from the root, 

 linear, channelled, smooth. The large star-like blossoms of this species 

 expand in May and June, their snow-white sepals having each a broad, 

 central line of green on the outside, and each flower having a memljranous 

 bract. The plant is not a native of England, though occurring in meadows 

 and woods in various places, often near houses. The stem is from eight 

 inches to a foot high, and the leaves are bright green and smooth. The 

 species is common in the pastures of France, Switzerland, Germany, and 

 Southern Europe. It continues to flower during two or three weeks, but 

 never unfolds except in bi'ight sunshine, and even then not before eleven ; 

 hence gardeners often call it Eleven-o'clock-Lady, and the French term it 

 Belle-d'onze-heures, as well as Ornifhogale. The Germans call it Vogel-milch, 

 and the scientific name of the genus is from the Greek words for bird and 

 milk. 



The bulbous roots of this plant were said by Dioscorides to be commonly 

 roasted or eaten, uncooked, with bread ; and the roots both of this and other 

 species have been known for centuries past as forming part of the vegetable 

 food of Italy and the countries of the Levant, and as affording also in 

 Sweden a resource in times of scarcity. Our species has acquired some 

 interest from having been thought by Linnajus, and also by various commen- 

 tators on Scripture, to be the "doves' dung," mentioned as the food of the 

 famished inhabitants of Samaria, during the siege recorded in the Book of 

 Kings. It is remarkable that in an abridged Chronicle of the History of 

 England, it is stated that during the famine which devastated England in 

 1316, the poor ate "pigeons' dung." Dr. Royle, in a learned dissertation on 

 this subject, ol)serves that Bochart has shown that the term " pigeons' dung " 

 was applied by the Arabs to different vegetable substances, and mentions a 

 light substance like moss, and a fleshy-leaved plant like a salsola or fig 

 marigold, as another. Dr. Royle considers, however, that pulse was most 

 probably the substance intended by the Scripture writer ; but as the 

 Ornitl log alum is abundant in the neighbourhood of Samaria, it is not very 

 improbable that its bulbs may have been stored and used in time of need. 



3. Drooping Star of Bethlehem {0. nutans). — Flowers in a loose 

 one-sided raceme, drooping ; filaments broad, 3-cleft, the alternate ones 

 longer and with deeper lobes ; bulb egg-shaped, two inches long. This plant 

 is a doubtful native, growing rarely in fields and orchards in England. It is 

 distinguished l)y its loose cluster of nodding flowers, which are larger than 

 the common kind, though, like them, white within and externally green. The 



