426 HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Ornithogalum. 
(Wild Tulip. E.} In old chalk-pits in Suffolk and Norfolk; see E. Bot. 
in which work it is first adopted as a naturalized plant. (Old chalk¬ 
pits at Whipsnade, on the borders of Hertfordshire. Rev. D. Jenks. 
Top of Muswell Hill, Middlesex. Mr. J. Woods, jun. Old chalk-pits at 
Carrow Abbey, near Norwich. Mr. Rose. Chalk-pits near St. Peter’s 
Barn, Risby Gate Street, Bury. Sir T. G. Cullum. Bot. Guide. Near 
Blackwell, Durham. Mr. Winch. About Allesley, and in meadows by 
the Bourne at Shustock, Warwickshire. Bree, in Purton. Bitton mea¬ 
dows, Glocestershire, opposite the church. Rev. H. J. Ellicombe. In 
a field near Hamilton. Mr. Murrav; and near Brechin. Mr. G. Don. 
Hook. Scot. E.) ' P. April.* 
ORNITHOG'ALUM.f Bloss. six petals, upright, permanent, 
above the middle expanding : Filaments , alternate ones 
dilated at the base : Caps, superior, three-celled. 
O. lu'teum. Stalk angular, (with one leaf at the bottom, and one or 
two at the top, E.) : fruit-stalks forming an unbranched umbel. 
* (Called by gardeners Sweet-scented Florentine Tulip, and much admired for its 
delicate perfume. When double it is highly prized by florists. The expensive varieties 
of tulips are mostly derived from T. Gesneriana of the Levant, and are not only patron¬ 
ized to an extravagant degree in Holland, but among the Orientalists. A Tulip feast is 
annually celebrated in the seraglio,— 
“ Then come the Tulip race, where beauty plays 
Her idle freaks.” 
In Persia the Tulip has ever been deemed symbolical of the tender sentiment, and its pre¬ 
sentation declaratory of love. However a bed of these gaudy flowers may dazzle and 
astonish the beholder, both by collective and individual beauty, they scarcely exceed in 
elegance our simple native thus improved by Montgomery,— 
“ Here lies a bulb, the child of earth, 
Buried alive beneath the clod, 
Ere long to spring, by second birth, 
A new and nobler work of God. 
’Tis said, that microscopic power 
Might through its swaddling folds descry 
The infant image of the flower. 
Too exquisite to meet the eye. 
This, vernal suns and rains will swell. 
Till from its dark abode it peep, 
Like Venus rising from her shell, 
Amidst the spring-tide of the deep. 
Two shapely leaves will first unfold. 
Then on a smooth elastic stem. 
The verdant bud shall turn to gold. 
And open in a diadem. 
Nor one of Flora’s brilliant race, 
A form more perfect can display,— 
Art could not feign more simple grace, 
Nor Nature take a tint away. 
Here could I stand and moralize;— 
Lady ! I leave that part to thee,— 
Be thy next birth a paradise,— 
Thy life to come,—eternity.” 
(Possibly from o pvi;, opviQog, a bird, and ya\«, milk ; though the application is not 
very obvious; neither the hypothetical etymology referring to the siege of Samaria (Linn. 
Praelect.), more satisfactory. E.) 
