Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Habitat and
distribution
Key to the species
Ornithogalum
gracillimum
ALBUCA ORNITHOGALUM 203
The species has been found in disturbed and eroded
Acacia bushland or woodland between 1450 and 1900
m, recorded from the Shewa and Bale floristic regions. It
is otherwise known from Kenya. In Ethiopia it has been
collected flowering in October.
7. ORNITHOGALUM L.
This genus is probably closest related to Albuca, differing
in simpler flowers, being open, and lacking the specialised
stamens of the latter.
The leaves are produced ± simultaneously with the
flowers. The leaves are linear to lanceolate. The erect
scape carries a lax to dense inflorescence. The pedicels
are erect to patent at anthesis. The bracts do not carry a
spur. The tepals are white, most often with greenish keels,
patent, not connivent as in Albuca. The filaments are free
and flattened, never clasping the ovary. The capsules are
subglobose with irregularly flattened seeds.
The genus is widely distributed in Africa, southern
Europe, and western Asia and includes about 200 species,
of which 3 are represented in Ethiopia.
1. Plants small, up to 15 cm tall; leaves filiform; flowers 2–10 in the
inflorescence 1. O. gracillimum
- Plants more than 20 cm tall; leaves narrowly lanceolate; flowers more
than 30 in the inflorescence 2
2. Tepals 1.5–1.7 cm long with 3–5 distinct green veins; ovary on a short
wide stalk; pedicels 2.5–5 cm 2. O. donaldsonii
- Tepals 0.6–0.9 cm long with several veins; ovary sessile; pedicels shorter
than 1.2 cm 3. O. tenuifolium
1. Ornithogalum gracillimum R.E.Friis
The species epithet ‘gracillimum’ refers to the small and
slender habit of these gracile plants. It was described in
1927 from plants collected on Mt. Kenya by the Swedish
botanist Robert E. Friis. It is easily recognised from the
two other Ornithogalum species by its small size, its