rally bent a little, tapering to the base. Umbels 1 to 8-flow-
ered, according to the strength of the bulbs, in the 8-flowered
umbels the stem-leaf is much larger and longer. Peduncle 3
to 6 lines in length, supporting the more or less branched
umbel. Pedicles simple, or often branched on the strong
plants, slender, unequal in length, round, smooth, or clothed
here and there with loose crooked hairs. Bractes narrowly
linear, tapering to both ends, thickly fringed with crooked
hairs, and slightly keeled at the back. Flowers erect, when
the scape is upright, otherwise more or less bent, at first
nodding a little, inside of a bright yellow, outside of a yellowish
green. Perianthium 6-cleft; the leaflets nearly equal,
upright at the base, the upper part stellately spreading, linearly
lanceolate, 3-nerved at the base, tapering to a long
slender point, hairy at the base. Stamens 6, inserted in the
base of the perianthium below the leaflets, every other
one longest: jilaments slender, smooth, attached to the base
of the anthers : anthers ovately oblong, two-lobed, the lobes
extending a little way down on each side the filament. Ova-
rá ra three-sided, % /e smooth, slightly 3-sided. Stigma three-
lobed.
The present pretty little Spring flowering plant has caused
a good deal of confusion amongst botanists, many supposing
it to be a distinct species from the Linnsean p la n t; we are
therefore glad of an opportunity to clear up all doubts, from
a comparison of two well preserved specimens in the Lin-
Ucean herbarium, marked in Linnasus’s own hand-writing.
The plants from which our drawingwas made, at the Nursery
of Mr. Colvill, were received from Mr. Schleicher, of Bex,
who collected them in Switzerland, and sent them under
the name of Ornithogalum Sternbérgii: it may be considered
a very valuable plant, on account of its early flowering,
which is about the same time as the Snowdrop and Crocus,
making a variety at the season that it is most needed, and
expanding its bright little starry flowers to the su n ; those
close up every evening, and expand again at the sun’s approach
; a border in a southern aspect is the best to plant it
in, as the flowers will then appear earlier, and expand sooner
of a morning; a light sandy soil suits it best, and it increases
by offsets from the bulbs, or by seeds.
The genus was first named by Mr. Salisbury in the Annals
of Botany, in compliment to Sir Thomas Gage, a great amateur
of botany.
1. Two of the leaflets of the Perianthium, showing their hairy base. 2. The 6 Sta-
mens inserted in the base of the Perianthium, below the leaflets, which are taken off.
3. Ovarium slightly 3-sided, and terminated by the three-lobed Stigma,
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