Ornithogalum umbellatum
L. Star of BethlehemPlants tufted, bulbous, to c. 30 cm high. Roots fibrous. Leaves linear, flat, erect, to c. 30 cm long, 5 mm wide. Inflorescence erect, about as long as leaves, corymbose or rarely sparsely elongate. Flowers normally 6–15; bracts linear; lower flowering pedicels to 7 cm long, upper pedicels shorter, fruiting pedicels spreading, to 10 cm long; perianth segments 15–20 mm long, spreading, white with a broad central stripe; stamens c. half as long as perianth segments; ovary green to yellow. Capsule ovoid to obovoid, 6-angled. Flowers Sep.–Oct.
VRiv, Gold, NIS. Also naturalised in SA, NSW. Native to southern and central Europe and eastern Mediterranean countries. Commonly cultivated as an ornamental, recorded as a persistent weed in crop paddocks in the Maryborough (1938), Rutherglen (1980) and Colbinabbin (1983) districts.
Conran, J.G. (1994). Liliaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 637–686. Inkata Press, Melbourne.