Featured Plant: White Star
January 23, 2012
A vibrant and compact plant White Star (or more broadly Sun Star), sets itself apart with clusters of white, yellow, and white waxy flowers. Native to the Cape Province area of South Africa, this perennial bulb grows mainly on the mountain slopes. The arrival of White Star at BloomRite® Gardens is the first of the Sun Star for this year; soon you will be able to find Yellow Star and even Pink Star here in the coming months.
White Star is known by several names such as Sun Star, Snake flower, and its botanical name Ornithogalum dubium. The flower's botanical name is in a sense uncertain, and according to its Latin root is quite literally so. 'Dubium' means doubtful or dubious in Latin, and is used in taxonomy (scientific classification) when a subject's origin is uncertain.
The Ornithogalum genus consists of about 20 species, most of which are native to southern Europe and South Africa. The White Star specifically grows in mountainous parts of South Africa, where it is endemic (it is native to no other place in the world). The plant blooms around the end of winter to the beginning of spring, and this blooming period will last for weeks under the right conditions. The longevity of White Star's color is in part thanks to the way its flowers open up. The pine cone shape inflorescence opens from bottom to top, gradually revealing its color and giving the impression of blooming four or five times before finally becoming spent. This excellent shelf life means that they are quite popular as cut flowers since they last longer in a vase or floral arrangement.
In addition to being long lived, White Star is easy to care for. Keep the planting mix moderately moist, but well drained. It will perform best in a place with bright indirect sunlight, and at temperatures between 60° and 65°F. Unfortunately O. dubium is very sensitive to frost, so take care to keep it in that moderate range of temperatures. For continuing care, remove spent flower spikes at the base and fertilize at half the label rate every month.
White Star is now available at BloomRite® Gardens for $3.95 per pot. They are sold in flats of 8 or 15.
