Star of Bethlehem, or Ornithogalum umbellatum

There is a showing of Star of Bethlehem at their peak in a naturalized setting near the Lalor Street gate in Section M and the beauty of these delicately small flowers deserve mention as does their history.

Naturalized Ornithogalum umbellatum in Section M

First described by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, the pioneering work published in 1753, the plant was one of but 12 species known at the time. Over the years other botanists including Michel Adanson, John Gilbert Baker, George Bentham, Adolf Engler, and Joseph Dalton Hooker came to identify and describe some 300 species within what is today the genus Ornithogalum.