Abstract
The genus Sternbergia Waldstein & Kitaibel (1804: 172) (Amaryllidaceae J.St.-Hil.) consists of 8 species, most of them having yellow flowers and autumnal flowering (Mathew 1983, Kamari & Artelari 1990, Artelari & Kamari 1991). The genus is distributed from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus, North Persia and mountains of Central Asia (Webb 1980, Mathew 1983). Sternbergia lutea (Linnaeus 1753: 292) Ker-Gawl. ex Sprengel (1825: 57) is a bulbous perennial plant with leaves up to 15 mm wide, subentire to minutely crenulate, appearing before or during anthesis, scape 4–10 cm at anthesis, the upper part not concealed, hypanthial tube (2–)5–8 mm, obconical, perianth-segments 4–15 mm wide, linear to oblong-elliptical (Webb 1980, Morales & Castillo 2004, Gage & Wilkin 2008, Aedo & Morales 2013), it is distributed from S. Europe, North Africa to W. Asia (Webb 1980, Conti et al. 2005, Aedo & Morales 2013). This plant is cultivated since ancient times as ornamental, but its cultivation is not very common (Morales & Castillo 2004).