What is star-of-Bethlehem?

Accurate star-of-Bethlehem identification matters because this pretty spring bulb is both poisonous and hard to get rid of. It came from Europe and the Mediterranean as a garden flower, then escaped into lawns, roadsides and woods edges across Pennsylvania.

It’s a perennial that grows from small white bulbs. Each bulb makes many offsets, so a single plant turns into a dense clump, and mowing or digging scatters the bulblets. By early summer the leaves die back and the plant disappears until the next spring, which is why many people forget about it until it’s spread.

It isn’t on Pennsylvania’s noxious weed list, but it is one of the more common calls about ‘little white flowers in the lawn’ every spring. A few clumps are easy to live with or dig out. A lawn where it has spread for a decade is a different story, and it pays to act while the patches are still small.

Star-of-Bethlehem identification: what to look for

In late April and May, the flowers make it easy to spot. The rest of the season, you have to look at the leaves.

• Flowers: White, star-shaped, with six petals, each about half an inch to an inch long. Turn one over and you’ll see a green stripe down the back of each petal.
• Flower timing: They open in sunshine and close in late afternoon and on cloudy days.
• Leaves: Narrow, smooth, grass-like and slightly fleshy, with a pale or white stripe running down the middle. They tend to flop over.
• Smell: None. Crush a leaf and there’s no onion or garlic odor.
• Bulbs: Dig one and you’ll find a cluster of small white bulbs packed together.

In a cool-season lawn, the clumps can be hard to see until they flower, since the leaves blend in with the grass.

Where it grows in Pennsylvania

Star-of-Bethlehem is common in older neighborhoods and around old homesteads throughout Pennsylvania. You’ll often find it in lawns under shade trees, along foundations and fence lines, in old flower beds, on roadsides and along woods edges where gardens once were.

It handles shade and a range of soils, including heavier clay. Once it’s in a lawn, mowing and lawn equipment help spread the bulblets outward, so patches slowly get larger year after year.

Because the bulbs were shared and planted for generations, a heavy patch near an older house is often a sign that someone grew it in a flower bed long ago.

Star-of-Bethlehem look-alikes

Before it flowers, it’s easy to mistake for wild garlic or wild onion. The quickest test is smell: crush a leaf. Wild garlic and wild onion smell strongly of onion or garlic, while star-of-Bethlehem has no smell at all. Wild garlic leaves are also round and hollow, while star-of-Bethlehem’s are flat with a white midrib.

Native spring beauty blooms around the same time in lawns, but its flowers have five pink-striped petals and its leaves lack the white stripe. Snowdrops bloom much earlier and have drooping, bell-shaped flowers.

How to get rid of star-of-Bethlehem

This weed takes patience. The bulbs don’t respond well to most common lawn herbicides, and leftover bulblets will regrow.

• Digging: For small patches, dig out the whole clump, going several inches deep and well past the visible leaves. Sift the soil to catch the small bulblets, and bag them. Don’t compost them.
• Cultural: A thick, healthy lawn mowed at three inches or higher makes it harder for it to spread. In beds, remove clumps and keep the area mulched.
• Chemical: Extension sources report that products containing sulfentrazone or carfentrazone give the best results in lawns, with professional products performing better than homeowner versions. Standard broadleaf mixes on their own often give disappointing results. Treat in early spring while leaves are up and actively growing, and expect to repeat for more than one year.

Always read and follow the product label (the label is the law), and make sure the product is labeled for your site, whether lawn or beds. Applying herbicide for hire in Pennsylvania requires a PA Department of Agriculture pesticide applicator certification, so larger jobs go to a licensed lawn-care company. For a badly infested area, starting over with a new lawn may be the most practical choice.

Keeping it from coming back

Mark patches with flags while they’re blooming in May. Once the leaves vanish in summer, you won’t be able to find them, and fall is a good time to dig or plan your next move.

Don’t plant star-of-Bethlehem in garden beds, and be careful sharing perennials from beds where it grows, since bulblets hide in the root balls. Clean mower decks and tools after working in infested areas, and check every spring for new clumps before they get established.

Questions we get about star-of-bethlehem

Similar weeds

Wild GarlicAllium vinealeWild OnionAllium canadenseLesser CelandineFicaria verna