144 HEXANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Ornithogalum 



b" 



O. ■fiXiO'x^tx.piJ.ov . Renealm. Spec. 88. t. 87. 

 Bulbus leucanthemus minor. Dod. Pempt. 221./. 



In meadows, pastures and groveSj in various parts of England. 



Perennial. April, May. 



Bulbs ovate, plentifully increasing by offsets. Leaves radical, linear, 

 roundly channelled, pliant, smooth. Stalk central, round, po- 

 lished, taller than the leaves, bearing a corymb of about 6 or 8 

 upright^oM;er*, all nearly on a level, the lowermost stalks being 

 gradually longest. Bracfeas solitary at the base of each par- 

 tial stalk, lanceolate, pointed, soon withering and turning brown, 

 though permanent. Petals of a brilliant enamelled white on the 

 upper side ; green underneath ; whence the name Ornithogalurn, 

 bird's milk, alluding to the general appearance of the dung of 

 birds, evidently, 1 think, originated ; though Reneaume dis- 

 • dained, and Tournefort failed, to explain it. Linnaeus first gave 

 the above etymology, in his Prcelectiones, published by Giseke, 

 p. 287. He has also shown that the roots of this plant, eaten 

 to the present day in Palaestine, are the " Dove's Dung" men- 

 tioned in the 2nd book of Kings, chap. 6. v. 25. See Engl. Bat. 



* 4. O nutans. Drooping Star of Bethlehem. 



Flowers pendulous, unilateral. Filaments dilated, cloven, 

 converging; three of them longer, their lobes nearly 

 equal to the anther. 



O. nutans. Linn. Sp. PI. 441. Willd. v. 2. 125. Comp. 53. Engl. 

 Bat. V. 28. 1. 1997. Hook. Land. f. 44. Curt. Mag. t. 269. Fl 

 Dan. t.9l2. Jacq. Austr. t.30l. Redout. Liliac. t. 253. 



O. n. 1216. Hall. Hist. V. 2. 103. 



O. exoticum, magno flore, minore innato. Bauh. Pin. 70. Rudb. 

 Elys. V. 2. 137./. 12. 



O. neapolitanum. Clus. Exot. app. 2. 8./. 9. Sweert. Floril. t. 57. 

 /.2. ParAr.Parad. 138. i. 137./. 8. Ger. Em. 168./. 



In fields and orchards, probably naturalized. 



In Eaton-ford field, Bedfordshire ; and near Bury. Sir T. G. Cul- 

 luni, Barf. In several parts of Sufl"olk. Hooker. In meadows 

 near Derby and Nottingham. Mr. Haden. 



Perennial. April, May. 



Bulb ovate, commonly deep in the ground. Leaves few, radical, 

 linear, 12 to 18 inches long, flaccid, bright green, somewhat 

 glaucous, roundly channelled. Stalk central, a foot high, erect, 

 round, smooth, glaucous, bearing a simple, nearly upright, 

 cluster, of several large flowers, all pendulous toward one side. 

 Bracteas lanceolate, pointed, concave, solitary under each par- 

 tial stalk. Petals elliptic-oblong, spreading, of a silvery glau- 

 cous white ; greener at the back j finally closing over the 

 increasing germen. Stam. broad, standing close together iii 

 the form of a belh and constituting, according to Bauhin's idea. 



