2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Ornithogalum (Latin Ornithogalum) - winter-hardy light-loving perennial from the Hyacinth family. Other names are poultry or ornithogalum. This plant got its Latin name meaning "bird's milk" because of the characteristic white color of the flowers.
Description
Ornithogalum is a spectacular bulbous plant, the height of which can vary from ten to ninety centimeters. The green-colored linear leaves of this plant have characteristic whitish veins in the middle. As a rule, these leaves appear earlier than peduncles. Moreover, in some plant varieties, leaves generally appear only in autumn, successfully overwintering and only then dying off.
Wide-open white or slightly yellowish ornithogalum flowers form graceful corymbose or racemose inflorescences. Sometimes on the outer sides of the tepals, you can see small green stripes. But the flowers of ornithogalum have no smell at all! As for the fruits of this plant, they look like boxes filled with flat black seeds of a round shape.
In total, the genus of ornithogalum has about one hundred and thirty species. At the same time, four species of ornithogalum were once listed in the Red Book of the USSR, and currently only one species is listed in the Red Book of Russia - arcuate ornithogalum.
Where grows
Ornithogalum came to us from the mountainous regions of North Africa and Eurasia.
Usage
Ornithogalum is quite actively used in ornamental gardening, while the umbrella bird is usually grown. The pyramidal ornithogalum is no less popular. Ornithogalum is a late spring flowering plant, so it will look equally good in all types of flower beds. This plant looks especially great in rockeries. Also, these undersized beauties with low peduncles look very impressive, being planted near the paths, and in combination with large inflorescences and peduncles they are very willingly planted in small groups. As for the best partner plants for ornithogalum, it is customary to refer to these as mouse hyacinth and tulips with daffodils. Ornithogalum is also very successfully grown in greenhouses.
Most species of this plant are poisonous, so special care must be taken when working with them! At the same time, the sprouts of some species of ornithogalum are eaten by analogy with asparagus, and the bulbs of the Pyrenean ornithogalum are enjoyed both fried and pickled!
Growing and caring
Ornithogalum is a very unpretentious plant. It will grow equally well on absolutely any soil (however, garden soils will still be most preferable), both in the open sun and in partial shade. This handsome man also does not need any special care, and his winter hardiness is quite good, only he absolutely cannot stand waterlogging and waterlogging, and this fact should not be discounted when growing it. By the way, in the same place the ornithogalum grows well up to five to six years, that is, in this case, you will definitely not have to be puzzled by frequent transplants.
The aerial parts of the ornithogalum are allowed to be mowed after flowering. And the reproduction of this amazing plant is most often carried out with the help of baby bulbs - depending on the type, they are planted to a depth of eight to ten centimeters, maintaining a distance between the plants from twenty centimeters to half a meter. Sometimes ornithogalum is propagated by seeds - in this case, the seeds are sown before winter. But with seed growing, the first flowering of young plants can only be admired in the fourth, fifth or even sixth year.
