/ S [ 1 997 ]
O R N I T H O G A L UM nutans.
Drooping S ta r o f Bethlehem.
HEXANDRIA Monogynia. .
Gen. Char. Cor. of 6 petals, permanent, their upper
part spreading. Filaments dilated at the base.
Capsule superior, of S pells. Seeds roundish. Calyx
.none.
Spec. Char. Flowers pendulous toward one side. Filaments
dilated, cohering, bell-shaped; three of
them longer and cloven.
Syn. Ornithogalum nutans. Linn. Sp. P I. 441. JVilld,
Sp. P I. v. 2. 125. A it. Hort. Kew. v. 1 . 443.
Ja c q . Austr. t. 301. F I. Dan. t. 912. Curt.
M ag. t. 269. Roth. Germ. v. 1 . 151.
O. n. 1216. . H a ll. Helvet. v. 2. 103.
O. neapolitanum. Clus. E xo t. append. 2. 8, 9.
C l u s iu s received this plant from his friend lifiperati of
Naples, and it has thence been judged a native of that country.
Others have reported it to be of Cretan origin, but Dr. Sib-
thorp did not observe it in Crete, nor any where else in his
Grecian tour. Its original place of growth is therefore, as
Mr. Curtis suggests, doubtful; but as Haller, Jacquin, Roth,
and the editors of the Flora Danica admit it into their works,
on the ground of its being at least naturalized, if not wild,
about towns, orchards, &c., in the countries they described,
we adopt it likewise, our specimen having been sent by the
Rev. G. R. Leathes from high fields near Bury, where this
Ornithogalum grows in great profusion, flowering early in
May. ' -
Bulb ovate, commonly deep in the ground. Leaves all
radical, pale and somewhat glaucous, linear, channelled,
acute. Stalk solitary, rather taller than the leaves, cylindrical,
erect. Cluster simple, a little drooping, composed of 7 or 8
large and not inelegant greenish silvery-white flowers, which
lean towards one side, and as they fade become quite pendulous.
The permanent petals close over the germen, which
becomes a roundish membranous capsule. The stamens are
very broad, 3 of them longer than the rest, and two-lobed at
the top beyond their anthers. The bracteas are lanceolate,
acute, longer than the partial stalks, but shorter than the
flowers.