ORNITHOGALUM COLLINUM

Family and Genus:- See- HYACINTHACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- O. graecum, O. tenuifolium, O. collinum ssp.

rhodium.

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

botanist Dioscorides for plants yielding bird-lime.

Collinum (L) Of the hills, growing on hills.

General description:- Short perennial, 5-15(-20) cm. generally with numerous

offsets forming tufts of leaves around the parent plant

Scape:- Short, with a ± epigeal part.

Leaves:-

1) (3-)5-9(-11), (1-)1·5-4·5(-7) mm wide, bright-green with a white median stripe,

sometimes ciliate, glaucous, glabrous, longer than the inflorescence, linear,

canaliculate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, sessile on the soil or aerial part of scape up to 4 cm; fruiting

pedicels ascending to patent.

2) Perianth-segments, 12-17 mm, patent, oblong or lanceolate to linear, white, with

a green stripe on the back, not decurrent.

3) Anthers, pale yellowish or reddish at the point of attachment.

4) Ovary. 3·5-6 mm, elongate-cylindrical, with 6 angles.

5) Style, 2-3 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 9-15 mm, ovoid, the six angles keeled, the septal fissures not reaching

the base.

Key features:-

1) Pedicels, after anthesis (but while still green) rigid and terete at the apex.

2) Ovary, 3·5-6 mm, elongate-cylindrical, with 6 angles.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Patches of meadow on rocky slopes, orchards, fallow fields. 0-1200(-

1900) m.

Distribution:- S. Italy, W Balkan Peninsula and Aegean area. Fairly common in the

western half of Crete, but scattered further east.

Flowering time:- Late Feb to early June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis and Christopher Cheiladakis