Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)

Common Names: Garden star-of-Bethlehem, grass lily, nap-at-noon, eleven-o'clock lady

Description: Sold as an ornamental. Flowers and bulbs are toxic, containing glycosides similar to Digitalis, which can cause shortness of breath, skin irritation and severe swelling.

Habit: Herbaceous, growing from bulbs with annual renewal. Bulbs are ovoid in shape and measure 0.5-1.5 in. in length. Exterior of bulb is membranous.

Leaves: Shiny, dark green in color, narrow and linear with distinct white midrib. 4-12 in. long and 0.1-0.2 in. wide that are hollow in a cross-section.

Flowers: 6 petals, white in color, 0.5-0.75 in. in diameter, that resemble a star. Occur at the ends of leafless flowering stems (scapes) and can grow up to 1 ft. in height but are normally shorter. Umbel-like raceme contains 3-10 flowers. Bloom from May to June.

Fruit and seeds: 3-lobed capsule containing several oval black seeds.

Habitat: Native to North Africa, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Turkey. Can be found along the banks of rivers and streams, disturbed sites, early succession forests, forest edges, floodplain forests, wet meadows, yards and gardens.

Reproduction:

Impact and Damage: Causes potential threats to native vegetation.

Similar species: Resembles wild garlic or onion upon emergance.

Monitoring and rapid response: Non-responsive to several herbicides though research suggests Paraquat provides 70-78% control.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Weed of the Week 06-24-05.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org). Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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