Sternbergia lutea (L.) Ker Gawl. ex Spreng.

From: Gage & Wilkin (2008).

S. lutea (L.) Ker Gawl. ex Spreng, Syst. Veg. 2:57 (1825) Typus: ‘Habitat in Hispania, Italis, Thracia’, date unknown, LINN 416.1 (Holo- LINN, digital image!).
Amaryllis lutea L., Sp. Pl. 292 (1753).
Oporanthus luteus (L.), Herb. Appendix [Bot. Reg.] 38 (1821).
S. aurantiaca Dinsm. in Post, Fl. Syria ed. 2, 2:607 (1934) (no specimens cited).
S. sicula Tineo ex Guss. Fl. Sic. Syn. 2:811 (1844-45) Typus: Italy, Sicily, Militello, Val di Noto, 1847, Tineo s.n. (Iso- K!)
Oporanthus siculus (Tineo ex Guss.) Parl. Fl. Ital. 3:97 (1858)
S. lutea (L.) Ker Gawl. ssp. sicula (Tineo ex Guss) D.A.Webb, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 76:358 (1978)
S. greuteriana Kamari & R.Artelari, Willdenowia 19:371 (1990) Typus: Greece, Crete, Nomos Lasithiou, Ep. Lasithiou: NW side of Lasithi Plateau, 10.x.1985, Kamari 20292 (Holo- UPA, iso- B).

BULB globose to ovoid, (1.2-)2.4–4.6(-5.7) cm in diameter; may be continuous with an extended neck 0–8.6(-10.8) x 0–1.6 cm which partially encloses the sheath; tunic chartaceous, turning dark brown when dry. SHEATH tubular, 1.7–14.6 x 0.2–2.1 cm, tubular, tapering to an abruptly acute apex to one side; membranous in texture. INDUMENTUM of sparse, fine white appressed hairs on both leaf surfaces, otherwise glabrous. LEAVES 4–6(-7), linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0.7–33.3(-39) x (0.7-)1–1.2 cm at flowering, appearing with or just after the flowers, elongating after fertilization; apex acute; margins minutely crenulate with regular or irregular crenulae; upper surface slightly furrowed, underside keeled; surfaces concolorous, bright to dark green, occasionally with a greyish or greenish median stripe when fresh, drying to a dark olive green to brown; leaves chartaceous when dry. INFLORESCENCE a solitary sessile flower; scape 1(-5), 0.3–20 x 0.1–0.5 cm, held erect at flowering, elongating and curving toward the ground at fruiting; smooth or faintly ridged. SPATHE (0.6-)1– 5(-6) cm long, lanceolate, apex acute, occasionally apically divided, attached below and completely enclosing ovary and extending part-way up perianth tube; membranous. OVARY inferior, ovoid to oblongoid–ovoid, 0.4–1.4 x 0.1–0.8 cm at flowering, epidermis smooth or with faint ridges continuous with segment veins when dry. FLOWER wholly deep yellow in colour; erect at flowering; tube 0.2–1.9 x 0.1–0.4 cm, with perianth segments inserted at the apex; segments 6(7) in two separate whorls that may ormay not be distinct, where distinct, outer whorl segments broader and apically acute, sometimes inner whorl apically obtuse, outer whorl often cucullate; 1.6–6 x 0.2–2.2 cm. FILAMENTS (0.7-)1.1–5 cm in length, thread-like; didynamous; anthers dorsifixed, dehiscing extrorsely. STYLE 1.6–5.5(-6.5) cm in length, projecting above anthers; stigmatic surface capitate. FRUIT a few-seeded capsule, drying dark brown: dehiscence not observed. SEEDS globose, 2.5–3(-3.5) mmin diameter, normally with a fleshy aril extending from one pole completely or partly to the equator.

Flowering between September and November.