Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem - Gagea lutea

Low to short, slender plant with a hairless stem. Basal leaf solitary, linear-lanceolate, flat, 5 to 12 mm broad, generally yellowish green. Stem leaves 2 opposite or sub opposite, lanceolate, margin hairy. Flowers 7, yellow, 15 to 25 mm in an umbel like cluster, each tepal with a band of green on the back.

Damp grassland, scrub and open damp woods, especially on basic soils.

Flowers March to May.

Perennial.

Scattered localities, mainly in central and northern England and southern Scotland. Uncommon in southern England.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in only 1 of the 617 tetrads.