Ornithogalum was originally described by
Linnaeus in 1753, with 12 species, which he placed in the Hexandria Monogynia (six stamens, one carpel). When
Michel Adanson formed the family
Liliaceae in 1763, he placed
Ornithogalum there, where it largely remained till this very large family was dismembered towards the end of the 20th century. Specifically, he included the genus with the onions (now
Allioideae). By the 1870s, as Baker describes in his revision of the family, the
taxonomy of Liliaceae had become vast and complicated. Baker placed
Ornithogalum in the tribe
Scilleae, one of eight tribes into which he divided the Liliaceae. He then further subdivided the genus into seven subgenera. Of those, the first,
Heliocharmos, corresponds to the modern
Ornithogalum sensu stricto, with 23 species. Later, in the United Kingdom,
Bentham and
Hooker published their volume on the Liliaceae in Latin in 1883. They divided the family into 20
tribes and placed
Ornithogalum in the tribe Scilleae with 19 other genera, and indicated 70 species existed. In the German literature the
taxonomic system of
Engler completed its classification of the Liliaceae in 1888. He divided the family into 12
subfamilies and subordinate tribes.
Ornithogalum was then placed in the subfamily
Lilioideae and tribe Scilleae together with 21 other genera. The 70 species of
Ornithogalum were then further divided into six sections, with section
Heliocharmos corresponding to Baker's subgenus.
Ornithogalum is one of four genera in the tribe
Ornithogaleae, the largest tribe within the subfamily
Scilloideae of the
Asparagaceae. Historically, it was treated as part of the subfamily Ornithogaloideae of Hyacinthaceae, now obsolete terms. The preferred treatment is to consider the Hyacinthaceae as subfamily Scilloideae of the Asparagaceae. The original subfamilies within Hyacinthaceae became tribes of subfamily Scilloideae. Thus subfamily Ornithogaloideae became tribe Ornithogaleae. The precise taxonomy of the Ornithogaloideae/Ornithogaleae has been problematic since at least the time of
Linnaeus. The Ornithogaloideae were one of four major clades within the Hyacinthaceae.
Phylogenetic analysis subsumed all of that subfamily into the genus
Ornithogalum with about 300 species. This
sensu lato reduction of Speta's 14 genera into one was not widely accepted, though they were
polyphyletic, and had a number of problems. (This also had the effect of eliminating
Galtonia as a genus, under which a number of
Ornithogalum species are still sold.) Further analysis with wider sampling (70 compared to 40 taxa) and a third
plastid region (
matK) revealed the presence of three clades (A, B and C) within Ornithogaleae/
Ornithogalum. Consequently, a new classification was proposed with three tribes and four genera,
Ornithogalum corresponding to clade C, placed in tribe Ornithogaleae, but further subdivided into subgenera and sections, with 160 species.
Galtonia was retained as a taxon, but at the subgenus level. An alternative approach was suggested by combining plastid gene sequences with
nuclear DNA sequences,
morphology, and
biogeography. This supported Manning's clade C within which
Ornithogalum was contained, but the very large subgenus
Ornithogalum was noted to still be
heterogeneous, which they had managed by treating it as seven sections. This study suggested reversing the
sensu lato (lumping) approach of Manning
et al., reverting to separate genera (splitting), thus resurrecting
Galtonia. The
sensu stricto classification of reduces the number of species to 50 as originally proposed by Speta. Thus, any consideration of the genus needs to be examined as to whether it refers to
sensu stricto, the 50 species considered by and , or
sensu lato, the much larger genus envisaged by .
Subdivision This very large genus has long been divided into many
subgenera. The
Flora Europaea (1980) lists 15 subgenera, many of which had at various times been separate distinct genera. Having originally subsumed all of the Ornithogaleae genera into the single genus
Ornithogalum, later subdivided this now very large genus into four subgenera after resurrecting three of the original subsumed genera (
Albuca,
Pseudogaltonia,
Dipcadi). As proposed by them the genus has the following structure: • subgenus
Avonsera (Speta) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt (
monotypic:
Ornithogalum convallarioides) • subgenus
Galtonia (Decne.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt (7 species) • subgenus
Aspasia (Salisb.) Oberm. (30 species) • subgenus
Ornithogalum (7 sections, 120 species)
Species Of the roughly 180 species, the best known are
O. umbellatum,
O. saundersiae,
O. arabicum, and
O. thyrsoides. •
Ornithogalum arabicum (Star-of-Bethlehem) •
Ornithogalum dubium (Sun star, yellow chincherinchee) •
Ornithogalum maculatum (Snake flower) •
Ornithogalum narbonense (Pyramidal star-of-Bethlehem) •
Ornithogalum nutans (Drooping star-of-Bethlehem) •
Ornithogalum pyrenaicum (Bath asparagus/Prussian asparagus/spiked star-of-Bethlehem) •
Ornithogalum saundersiae (Giant chincherinchee) •
Ornithogalum thyrsoides (Chincherinchee) •
Ornithogalum umbellatum (Garden star-of-Bethlehem)
Type species •
Ornithogalum xanthochlorum (
Namaqua chink/slangkop) Species formerly placed in
Galtonia include: •
Ornithogalum candicans (Baker) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt (Summer hyacinth, Cape hyacinth) •
Ornithogalum princeps (Baker) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt •
Ornithogalum regalis (Hilliard & B.L.Burtt) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt •
Ornithogalum saundersiae Baker •
Ornithogalum viridiflorum (I.Verd.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt
Etymology The Latin genus name
ornithogalum derives from
Greek ornithogalon referring to
ornithogalum umbellatum, itself deriving from
ornis "bird" (
GEN ornithos) and
gala "milk". The name is thought to be related to the white colour of the flowers; in some species, they resemble bird droppings. The possible (non-attested) alternative form in ancient Greek
ornithogalē seems to be the source of
classical Latin ornithogale as used by
Pliny the Elder. == Distribution and habitat ==