This Week's Mystery Plant

"Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;

Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden

And choke the herbs for want of husbandry."

[Shakespeare, Henry VI (part 2)]

Watch out for the weeds! Even in Shakespeare's time, as now, gardeners had to be vigilant, getting rid of the interlopers as soon as they appeared.

Now here is a spring weed that is popping up, but it's a wonderful little thing. It's an old-timey bulb plant for the garden, but is not often planted these days. When they suddenly appear in lawns, most people want to get rid of them. They do tend to spread themselves around, but they are actually quite charming, and of course, you can buy them. The plants don't get but about a foot tall with a shock of narrow, deep green, odorless leaves. The stem will bear up to a dozen or more milk-white flowers, each one on a long stalk, and very star-like. These flowers tend to get "sleepy" at dusk, and will be closed all night long, opening up again before noon the next day. There will be three sepals and three petals, each of them with a prominent green stripe on the back. Six stamens are inside, their filaments broad and flattened at the base. The ovary is bright green, eventually forming an angled seed pod.

This lily relative is actually native to the Middle East, and has been grown for a long time in Europe and America in gardens. It is commonly naturalized east of the Mississippi River, and scattered elsewhere in North America, often showing up in vacant lots and meadows.

The scientific name alludes to the flowers, and the genus actually translates as "bird's milk"…a name you won't see in the garden centers. This curious name comes from an ancient notion that white doves were able to produce milk, and so feed their young ones. The flowers are as white as doves, so there we are; it's a bit of a stretch. (If you do know this plant, you may have heard it called "Star of Bethlehem," a name that has also been used for a completely different spring-bloomer, Ipheion uniflorum, which has bluish-purple flowers, and very oniony-smelling leaves.)

As charming as this plant is in the garden, it does have a rather poisonous side. All the parts are a bit toxic, especially the bulbs, and it should never be eaten. (Photo by John Nelson.)

Photo by John Nelson