Ornithogalum dubium dry leaves at bloomtime

This small, yellow-flowering Ornithogalum dubium plant was seen in the Gifberg during October. The four leaves grown this season have recently withered, a feature sometimes seen in this plant at flowering time.

The inflorescence is rounded, the racemes stalk zigzagging from flower to flower. Each individual flower stalk is subtended by a long, tapering bract that folds loosely around its base; the bracts are dry before the flowers.

No dark eye is present in the flowers at the tepal bases in the case of this plant. The superior ovary is positioned on top of the tepal bases; all Hyacinthaceae flowers have superior ovaries comprising three locules (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2007).