SOME MINOR GENERA 615 
Camassia esculenta, deep to pale blue, 2 inches across, June (North-West 
America, 1837); C. Fraseri, pale blue, smaller than the last (Eastern 
United States); C. Leichtlini, creamy white, larger than C. esculenta, 
leaves broader, May (California, 1853). Like Alliums, these will do 
well in any ordinary garden soil, if planted in a sheltered position and 
in partial shade, but they prefer a compost of loam, leaf-mould, and sand, 
with an annual top-dressing of rich soil. Propagated by seeds and offsets. 
ORNITHOGALUM (Greek, ornithos, a bird, and gala, milk ; significance 
doubtful). Star of Bethlehem. A.genus of about seventy species of 
- hardy and greenhouse bulbous perennials, natives for the most part of 
Europe, Asia Minor, and Africa. The leaves are slender, strap-shaped, or 
awl-shaped, and the somewhat small white or yellow flowers are grouped 
in racemes. The six segments are free to the base, where each has a 
honey-gland, and they spread widely. Among the chief species are: 
Ornithogalum montanwm, greenish white, six to twenty in raceme, 
May, leaves slender (Boath: Europe, 1824); O. nutans, white inside, 
green outside, drooping, in one-sided raceme, April (South Europe); 
O. narbonense, white, with green stripe at back of each segment, twenty 
to fifty in raceme, May and June, leaves slender (Mediterranean Region, 
1752); O. wmbellatum, white striped with green outside, May, leaves 
slender with. silvery central stripe (Europe). Will grow readily in the 
border or wild garden. O. nutans and O. umbellatum have long been 
naturalised in Britain; and in gardens only need planting. O. arabicum 
and 0. thyrsoides, both large and handsome in flower, are good green- 
house plants. 
CuHtonopoxa (Greek, chion, snow, and dozxa, glory; in allusion to 
its time of flowering). Glory of the Snow. A genus of several species 
of hardy bulbous perennials, natives of Crete and Asia Minor, similar to 
‘Scilla sibirica, but differing in the more open flowers, the attachment 
of the stamens to the throat of the tube, and the forking of the anthers 
at their base. The species chiefly grown are: Chionodoxa Lucilice, with 
intense blue, white-centred flowers, an inch across, three to fifteen in a 
raceme, March (Asia Minor, 1877); C. nana, a smaller species with white 
or lilac flowers, $ inch across (Crete, 1879); C. sardensis, dark blue with 
a white eye (Asia Minor, 1885). These plants are very suitable for 
planting in the wild garden or the rock-garden, where they can be left 
alone to increase. In the rock-garden they may be planted in any kind 
of light soil in sunny positions. They do well on sloping banks. 
ASPHODELUS (Greek, a, not, and sphallo, to supplant: not to be 
beaten). Asphodel. A genus of five species of hardy perennials with 
