Height: 20 cm

Flowering period: March, April

Group: Ornithogalum bulbs

Delivery time: August to November

Order Ornithogalum Umbellatum bulbs

Ornithogalum Umbellatum is also called common bird's milk. The inside of the flower of this bulb is white and the outside is green with a white border. The inflorescence of this bulb is a umbel-shaped raceme with ten to twenty flowers. Bird's milk is easy to combine with other flower bulbs. These bulbs come back every year.

From the Greek: ornis (bird) and gala (milk). The Dutch name is thus: bird's milk. The common bird's milk (Ornithogalum umbellatum) is a 10-30 cm high, poisonous plant. The plant forms a flower bulb. The inflorescence is a umbel-shaped raceme with ten to twenty flowers, with the lower peduncles strongly elongated to form a screen. The flower consists of two trios of white petals inside. The flower has a diameter of 30-50 mm. The petals are green on the outside with a white border that extends to the end of the petal. The flower closes in bad weather, and also with sun during the afternoon. The plant is protected in the Netherlands. The plant reproduces by seed as well as by bulbs.

Planting requirements: Sun/hall shade.
Best in well-drained, fertile, humus-rich soil
planting depth 3 cm or twice the height of the bulb. Planting distance 15 cm
Does better when planted in ground covers.

This bulbous plant lends itself well to naturalising, for use in a flower meadow, for use in places with less light, in pots and also as a cut flower.