LILY FAMILY 



STAR-OF-BETHLEHEM 



Ornilhdgalum umhellhtum. 

 An ancient whimsical name, meaning bird-milk. 



The common Star-of-Bethlehem is the only representative of the 

 genus Ornithogalum that is at all common in American gardens. It is 

 a dwarf, hardy, bulbous plant, which bears umbels of green and white 

 flowers in May. Mediterranean region. 



Leaves. — Several, six to twelve inches long, narrow, deeply chan- 

 nelled, distinctly striped with white. 



Flowers. — White, striped with green outside, twelve to twenty on a 

 scape six inches high. 



Perianth. — Of six segments, spreading, with honey gland at base. 



Stamens. — Six, filaments flattened. 



Ovary. — Three-celled; style short, stigma three-angled. 



Capsule. — Three-celled, many-seeded. 



In the Star-of-Bethlehem the green and white of the leaf is curi- 

 ously repeated in the white and green of the flower, which is a 

 pretty six-pointed star, opening in sunshine. 



GRAPE HYACINTH 



Muschri botryoides. 

 Muscari, from the musky scent of one flower of the species. 



One of the early-flowering bulbous perennials of country gardens, 

 escaping into lawns and fields. Europe. March, April. 



Leaves. — Radical, linear. 



T^'/ower^.— Violet-blue to pure blue, borne in a dense raceme, on a 

 naked scape four to six inches high. 



Perianth. ~Glohu\a.r, or urn-shaped, constricted at mouth; violet- 

 blue, white at the mouth, six-toothed. 



Stamens.— Six; ovary three-celled, forming a triangular three-celled 

 capsule. 



These are hardy little bulbous plants from central Europe with 

 very short dense racemes of small, nodding, globular flowers, and 



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