HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Ornithogalum. 93 



Stamens hairy at the base. E. B. 63. H. L. 19. 

 Baxter's Plates, 2. T. bononiensis. G. E. 138. 



Chalk pits. Near Bullingdon. Christ Church Meadow. Dr. 

 n^iUiams, Bot. Professor, Oxford. 



Per. April. 



Stem simple. A bulb is formed in this plant at the end of a long 

 fibre. Fl. fragrant, yellow. Pet. spear-shaped, acute, outward 

 ones greenish. Roots preserved in sugar eatable. G, E. 



ORNITHOGALUM.' Star of Bethlehem. 



O. luteum. Yellow Star of B. Stem angular, with 

 one leaf at the bottom, and one or two at the top. 

 Flower-stalks umbellate, simple, smooth. E. B. 21. 

 O. luteum, sive Cepe agraria. G. E. 165. 



Groves, pastures. * * In woods about Oxford. Sir Joseph Banks, 



Bart. Woods near Ashford Mill. Fauler. Sb. 

 Per. April. 

 Ls. spear-shaped. Floral Is. fringed with fine white hairs. Pet. 



pale-green externally, tipped with green within. Stam. and 



pist. yellow. An elegant plant. 



Bulbous roots of all the species nutritious and wholesome. 



* O. umbellatum. Common Star of B. Flowers corym- 

 bose ; their partial stalks overtopping the main one. 

 Filaments dilated, tapering, entire. E. B. 130. H. 

 L. 45. Ornithogalum. G. E. 165. 



Meadows, pastures, groves. * * Near Barton. Sb. Christ Church 

 Meadow. Sb. and Dr. Bridges, President of Corpus Christi 

 College, Oxford. Copse, near Sandford Toll-gate. Bx. 

 Per. April, May. 



Ls. linear, bluntish, withering soon at the top, concave on the 

 upper side, with a white rib. Stalk round, smooth, eight or ten 

 inches. Corymb, of six, eight, or ten fl. Bract, spear-shaped, 

 acute, membranous, fading, abovit half as long as the fl. -stalks. 

 Pet. pure, enamelled, white with a broad, permanent, green line 

 along their backs. Germ, top-shaped, with six notches. 

 The boiled roots much used as food in the Levant. The Dove's 

 Dung, mentioned 2 Kings, ch. vi. v. 25. supposed by Linn, to be 

 the roots of this plant. Bochart interprets the Heb. word, as refer- 

 ring to the seed of vetches, or some vegetable food. See Gesen. 



Lex. in the Heb. word >'^f^ 



* O. nutans. Drooping Star of B. with its large, white 



flowers, silvery and glaucous. E. B. 1997- 



' From Ornis, Gr. a bird, and gala, Gr. milk ; from tke whiteness of the 

 petals in some species. 



