ORNITHOGALUM ARABICUM

Family and Genus:- See- HYACINTHACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Melomphis arabica

Meaning:- Ornithogalum (Gr) Bird-milk, a name used by the Greek physician and

botanist Dioscorides for plants yielding bird-lime.

Arabicum (L) Of Arabia, Arabian.

General description:-

Bulb:-

1) Rather large, with numerous offsets.

Scape:-

1) 30-80 cm, erect, robust

Leaves:-

1) 5-8, linear-lanceolate, shorter than the scape, 10-30 mm wide at the base,

glabrous, green without a white stripe.

Flowers:-

1) 10-25 in a dense, corymbose, flat-topped inflorescence.

2) Perianth segments, 15-30 mm, elliptical, white without a green fascia beneath.

3) Filaments, narrow, unwinged.

4) Bracts, shorter than the pedicels.

5) Lower pedicels, 80-100 mm, rarely less.

6) Ovary, obovoid to subglobose, blackish-violet.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, cylindrical.

2) Seeds, not winged and seldom flat.

Key features:-

1) Filaments, scarcely connivent, all entire.

2) Perianth, 50-65 mm diam. white without a green fascia beneath.

3) Ovary, blackish-violet.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Ruderal habitats in towns and villages, archaeological sites, sometimes in

olive groves, at low altitudes.

Distribution:- Doubtfully native to the Aegean area, scattered in the Mediterranean

area. Native distribution uncertain. Rare on Crete, seen recently only in olive groves

at Hromonastiri south-east of Rethimno, where it is probably naturalized, and on

Gavdos island, where it is said to be native.

Flowering time:- Apr-May.

Photos by:- Vivienne Walker