L iliacecz Orn ithoga lum. 5 2 1 



plants, the hardy ones chiefly from the Mediterranean region. 

 Name from opvis, a bird, and 7aAa, milk ; of obscure appli- 

 cation. The following species are familiar, and the first three 

 either naturalised or native in Britain. 



1. 0. umbellatum (fig. 254). Star of Bethlehem. This 

 grows about a foot hi2:h, with concave leaves green with a 



Fig. 254. Ornithogalum uiubwllatum. (J uat. size.) 



white stripe down the middle. Flowers white, numerous, 

 umbellate, with slender pedicels and long bracts. May and 

 June. 



2. 0. Pyrenaicum. Flowers numerous, in racemes. Fila- 

 ments dilated upwards. Perianth-segments greenish-white on 

 the margin, June and July. 



3. 0. nutans. Flowers racemose, fewer than in the pre- 

 ceding, drooping. Filaments dilated upwards and trifid. 



