I find these growing in with my daylilies in the front border. The leaves look similar to the daylily leaves so I don't spot this weed plant until it blooms these tiny little blooms.

Can someone ID this plant for me?

Ornithogalum

http://garden.org/plants/brows...
https://www.google.cz/search?q...

http://plantillustrations.org/...

It does look like Ornithogalum, and is probably Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)

http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/invasi...
http://florida.plantatlas.usf....

the blossoms on the one in question look purple

Frillylily said:the blossoms on the one in question look purple

On my monitor the backs of the flowers look brownish with maybe a pink stripe. There's also a hint of pink on a couple of flowers. The branching should be a useful clue even if just for purposes of elimination, but I have no idea what it is at this point. Becky, is it possible to get a close-up of the flowers, maybe with a coin or something to give some scale? You mention it is invasive, is that in the sense of it's being a problem in your general area, or do you only see it in your garden?

Stefan, Lin, and Sue - The area that I am seeing these bulbs/plants growing in, is an area that was dug up and refilled with dirt (due to a septic drain field being redone). I have never seen these plants before here locally. But then again the blooms are very small (about half the size of a dime). And yes, there does seem to be some pink in the tiny blooms.

Here are two cropped and zoomed photos from the photo above:

Bloom Stalk:



Here is a zoomed in photo of the blooms. They don't completely open up like most flowers but instead look like a bell type of flower:

The blooms don't really look like the bloom cluster on Ornithogalum.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/...

The bloom stems and structure is completely different than the Ornithogalum. I also believe that the blooms are a light lavender/pink not white.

Yeah, this has got me stumped, too. I don't know where that fill dirt came from, but I have pulled out some bulbs that were as big as 3 inches with impressive roots. Like I said, they blend right in with my daylilies until they send up a bloom scape and then I can see them. I am even wondering if they grew from seeds not bulbs originally. They do seem to grow fast. I bet they are something invasive here in Florida.

You may want to make sure seeds don't drop if you think it is something you may not want in your garden, even in the future. By then it can be too late.

http://www.oldhousegardens.com...


email your pics to this place

Becky, if you come across a bulb before you get an ID can you post a pic? It might help to see what the bulb looks like.

If you click on the pics, the whole plant shows up.

Sue - I cropped the plant photo above to show 2 zoomed in photos of the bottom of the plant with the fans and the bulbs.

Fans and bulbs with roots:



Bulbs and roots:

Thanks Becky, I was able to zoom in on the original picture, but I was thinking if you found another one it might be useful to compare. I was trying to figure out the relationship with that structure to the left of the current one, do they all look like that? Does it look like a spent bulb or a rhizome? Have you had these before this year? It kind of looks like it may go dormant after flowering - dried up roots.

Sue - This is the first year I have noticed them because of the small blooms. I was excited at first to see the fans because I thought they were my daylily fans showing very good rust resistance!

I never noticed them before that though. I am sure they came with the fill dirt and got big enough this year to actually send up scapes and bloom. I think the bulb to the left is a division from the first one. Perhaps a split into 2 bulbs but still attached to each other. Only one though sent up the scape and produced leaves. I was seeing the fans on them since Spring and was pulling them out since March until now. I am sure there are more out there that I can't determine yet to remove them.

Quite the mystery as to what this plant is!

Quite the mystery is right! I've searched and searched and now that I see the close up profile of those tiny blooms I doubt it's Ornithogalum but I have no idea what it could be ... looks very familiar so I've probably seen it before but I have no clue. I'll be watching in hopes that someone can identify it.

The only thing I can think of is candy lily (blackberry lily some call it)
but the blooms don't look right and really the foliage doesn't either. My candy lilies remind me of iris.

SO I know it isn't this, but maybe it will cause a brain storm for someone else...

Becky, how about posting the pic's over on the Florida Gardening Forum if you haven't already? I'm thinking maybe someone around the state will recognize this plant right away. It's driving me crazy because it looks so familiar ... I even got to thinking maybe a variety of Zeuxine or Spiranthes. I've had Zeuxine strateumatica pop up a time or two, in the lawn as well as in containers:


My vision is still not cooperating lately so I'm still grabbing at straws here with these suggestions:
http://garden.org/plants/searc...
Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon japonicus)

Thanks, y'all for trying.

Lin - I do see Zeuxine strateumatica popping up around my garden from time to time, too. It's not this bulb plant though.

I did post at your suggestion a link to this thread in the Florida Gardening Forum.

FrillyLily - Do you think the folks at the site would be able to ID it if I sent them a thread link to this site?