LILIACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



2. Ornithogalum nutans L. Drooping 

 Star-of-Bethlehem. Fig. 1273. 



Ornithogalum nutans L. Sp. PI. 308. 1753. 



Bulb ovoid, i '-2' long. Scape stout, i-2 

 high ; leaves usually equalling the scape or 

 longer, blunt, 2" -4" wide; flowers several or 

 numerous, racemose, nodding; raceme 3'-8' long, 

 loose; pedicels stout, 2"-6" long; bracts lanceo- 

 late, long-acuminate, much longer than the 

 pedicels, often as long as the flowers; perianth- 

 segments thin, oblong-lanceolate, about i' long 

 and 4" wide, nearly twice as long as the stamens; 

 filaments broad, flat, 2-toothed at the apex. 



Escaped from gardens in eastern and southern 

 Pennsylvania, and' in the District of Columbia. 

 Native of Europe. April-May. The bulbs of this 

 and other species have for centuries past been a 

 portion of the food of Italy, the Levant and other 

 parts of the Old World. 



13. MUSCARI Mill. Card. Diet. Abr. ed. 4. 1754. 



Low bulbous scapose herbs, with basal linear fleshy leaves, and nodding bracted race- 

 mose flowers, deep blue (rarely white) in the following species. Bulbs membranous-coated. 

 Perianth globose, urn-shaped, or oblong, with 6 teeth or short lobes, tardily deciduous. 

 Stamens 6, inserted on the perianth-tube, included ; anthers ovate, versatile, introrse. Ovary 

 3-celled, sessile; ovules 2 in each cavity; style short; stigmas 3-lobed. Capsule 3-sided or 

 3-winged, usually 6-seeded, loculicidal. Seeds black, angled. [From the musk-like odor of 

 the flowers of some species.] 



About 40 species, natives of Europe, Asia and Africa. Type species : Hyacinthus botryoides L. 



Perianth globose, i"-i l / 2 " in diameter; leaves erect. i. M. botryoides. 



Perianth oblong, urn-shaped, 2" -3" long ; leaves recurved. 2. M. raceinosum. 



i. Muscari botryoides (L.) Mill. Grape- 

 Hyacinth. Fig. 1274. 



Hyacinthus botryoides L. Sp. PI. 318. 1753. 

 Muscari botryoides Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. i. 

 1768. 



Bulb i' high or less. Scape 4'-io' high; leaves 

 about as long as the scape, erect or nearly so, 

 i "-4" wide, channeled, blunt or acutish ; raceme 

 oblong-cylindric, I'-ii' long, dense, or becoming 

 longer and looser in fruit; pedicels shorter than 

 the faintly odorous flowers ; bracts very short ; 

 perianth globose, i"-i$" in diameter, 6-toothed, 

 the teeth white, recurved; valves of the capsule 

 obovate. 



In meadows and thickets and along roadsides, 

 escaped from gardens, New Hampshire to Ohio and 

 Virginia. Naturalized or adventive from southern 

 Europe. Native also of Asia. Grape-flower. Baby's- 

 breath. .Blue-bells. Blue-bottle. April- June. 



