Gagea lutea
| Gagea lutea | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 0.5' |
| Blooms: | Early Spring-Late Spring |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Gagea lutea (common name: yellow star of bethlehem)
Propagation: Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse[1]. Sow the seed thinly so that there is no need to transplant them, and grow the seedlings on in the same pot in the greenhouse for their first year or two. Give an occasional liquid feed to ensure they do not become nutrient deficient. Pot up the small bulbs when the plants are dormant, placing 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another year or two in the greenhouse before planting them out when they are dormant.
Division. We have no details of when is the best time to divide the bulbs but suggest doing it after the leaves die down in the summer.
Cultivation: Requires a moist soil, preferring one on the alkaline side of neutral, and succeeding in sun or shade.
The dormant bulbs are fairly hardy and will withstand soil temperatures down to at least -10°c[2].
Range: Europe, including Britain, from Scandanavia south and east to Spain and temperate Asia to Japan.
Habitat: Damp woods and pastures, especially on basic soils[3].
Edibility: Bulb - raw or cooked[4][5][6]. A famine food, it is only used in times of scarcity[4].
Young leaves - cooked.
Pollinators: Insects
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Also Known As: G. sylvatica.
Links
References
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Matthews, Victoria. The New Plantsman Volume 1. Royal Horticultural Society, 1994.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Grieve, Margaret. A Modern Herbal. Penguin, 1984.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.