Ornithogalum sigmoideum

Appearance

Leaves: (3-)5-9(-11) mm long, (1-)1·5-4·5(-7) mm wide, covered with a waxy bloom (glaucous), hairless (glabrous), longer than inflorescence.

Flowers: Inflorescence corymbiform, stemless (sessile) on surface of soil. Stems (pedicels) after full flowering (anthesis) (but while still green) swollen into a motor-swelling (pulvinus) at the base, flaccid and grooved or furrowed (sulcate) at the apex, deflexed in fruit. Bracts longer or shorter than pedicels. Flowers (2)4-7(15).
Perianth-segments 12·5-26 mm, ovate-elliptical, white, with pale green stripe on back. Anthers yellow or slightly greenish. Ovary 4-6(-7·5) mm, ovoid, with 6 prominent angles, depressed at apex. Style (2·5-)4-5·5 mm.

Fruit: Capsule 9-15 mm, obovoid to cylindrical, the six angles keeled, the septal fissures reaching the base.

Key features:
1) Bulb with free scales, without bulbils, or with a few offsets which grow out in their first year.
2) Pedicels after anthesis (but while still green) flaccid and sulcate at apex.
3) Ovary ovoid, less than 1 1/3 times as long as wide, equalling or slightly longer than style.

Naming

Synonyms
Ornithogalum nanum
Ornithogalum pluttulum
Ornithogalum saginatum
Ornithogalum sibthorpii

Distribution

Ornithogalum sigmoideum is native to the Balkan Peninsula, Romania, Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran.

Habitat

Grassy habitats, open scrub, garigue, vineyards, olive groves, cultivated fields, waste places.