LILY FAMILY. 



353 



stigma 3-ang-led. Capsule membranaceous, roundish, obtusely trig-onous, 

 3-celled. Seeds few in a cell, subglobose or angular ; testa black, rugose. 

 Scape and linear-channelled leaves from a coated bulb. Flowers corym- 

 bose, or racemose, bracted. 



1. 0. umbella'tum, L. Kacemes corymbose ; peduncles longer than the 

 bracts ; perianth lobes white within, green outside, with white margins. 



Umbellate Ornithogalum. Ten o'clock. Star of Bethlehem. 



Fr. Dame d'onze heures. Germ. Die Yogelmilch. Span. Ornitogalo. 



BuTbs biennial? small, white. Leaves radical, numerous, 6-12 inches long, very 

 smooth, green with a whitish longitudinal line. Scapes 6-9 inches high, terete, smooth, 

 corymbosely branched at summit, — the branches or peduncles alternate, 1-2 inches long, 

 each with a membranaceous Imear-laaceolate acuminate bract at base. Sepals white 

 within, externally green with a white margin. Ovary somewhat trigonous-turbinate, often 

 abortive. 



Pastures and cultivated fields : introduced. Native of the old world. PI. May -June. 

 Pr. July. 



Obs. This foreigner has escaped from the gardens, in many places, — 

 and multiplies its bulbs so rapidly as to become a great nuisance, if 

 neglected. The bulbs are exceedingly tenacious of life ; and when once 

 completely in possession of the soil, it is an almost hopeless task to at- 

 tempt to extirpate them. The leaves generally die, however, in the early 

 part of summer, — and, in good land, are replaced by the valuable 

 grasses ; so that this obnoxious little intruder is not quite so serious a 

 pest as some others ; — such, for example, as the Canada Thistle, or Ox- 

 eye Daisy. 



4. SCIL'LA, L. Squill. 



[The ancient name.] 



Perianth of 6 colored (blue or purple) spreading divisions, mostly decidu- 

 ous, with 6 awl-shaped filaments at their base. Style thread-like. Pod 

 3-angled, 3-valved, with several black, roundish seeds in each cell.— 

 Scape and linear-leaves from a coated bulb ; the usually bracted flowers 

 in a simple raceme . 



1. S. Fra'seri, Gray. Leaves long, linear, keeled ; bracts solitary, lon- 

 ger than the pedicels ; stigma minutely 3-cleft. 



Fraser's Scilla. Eastern Quamash. Wild Hyacinth. 



jBi(?6 onion-like, ^'cct^^e about a foot high, bearing a long raceme of pale hlae Jlowers. 

 Sepals widely spreading, half an inch long, 3-nerved. 

 Prairies and banks of rivers : Ohio and westward. 



Obs. This is the celebrated Quamash, or Camass, which serves as 

 food for some of the Indian tribes of the far west ; the bulb is roasted, 

 and is said to be sweet-tasted and agreeable. 



