424 



LILIACEAE. 



2. Ornithogalum nutans L. Droop- 

 ing Star-of -Bethlehem. 

 (Fig. 1020.) 



Ornithogalum mitans I,. 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 / -S / 

 long, loose; pedicels stout, 2 // -6 // long; 

 bracts lanceolate, long-acuminate, much 

 longer than the pedicels, often as long as the 

 flowers; perianth-segments thin, oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, 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. Native of Europe. April-May. 

 The bulbs of this and other species have for cen- 

 turies past been a portion of the food of Italy, 

 the Levant, and other parts of the Old World. 



12. MUSCARI Mill. Gard. Diet. Ed. 7. 1759. 



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; stigma 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. 



Perianth globose, i"-i^" in diameter; leaves erect. i. M. botryoides. 



Perianth oblong, urn-shaped, 2"-$" long; leaves recurved. 2. M. racemosum. 



i. Muscari botryoides (I,.) Mill. Grape-Hyacinth. (Fig. 1021.) 



Hyacinthus botryoides I<. Sp. PI. 318. 1753. 



Muscari botryoides Mill. Gard. 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, \'-\y z ' 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; 

 valve of the capsule obovate. 



In meadows and thickets and along roadsides, 

 '1 from gardens, Massachusetts to Ohio and 

 Virginia. Naturalized or adventive from southern 

 Europe. Native also of Asia. April-June. 



