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I photographed this flower in Grenada in November of last year. The flowers were small (roughly 1½ in or 4 cm in diameter), white, with 5 narrow petals. There was just one flower on a stem, and one stem per plant (at least on the ones I saw); the plants had toothed leaves. It was growing wild near the Grand Etang Lake.

flower Click for larger view

I did numerous Google searches, but could never find a match. I eventually found one image that looked pretty much identical, but the original page no longer exists, and (according to the Wayback Machine) it apparently didn't provide an identification anyway. Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction?

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    These are beautiful!
    – JonH
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 19:42
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    LOL I thought they were flowers, "When uprooting this weed, it is important to wear gloves: the sap is an irritant which can be absorbed through the skin, and a small amount of sap in the eyes can cause blindness." (From Wikipedia). Sounds pretty dangerous!
    – JonH
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 19:43
  • @JonH Ha, yeah that could explain why it was hard to find information about them. There's probably not much horticultural value in a plant that can blind you!
    – p.s.w.g
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 20:56
  • Hi! I think @JonH provided some valuable information about this plant. Would you be willing to edit that into your answer? I'll do it if you'd rather-I just don't want to take credit for the research! Thanks. Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 21:12

1 Answer 1

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Apparently I only needed one more Google search after posting this question. I finally found a page showing a similar flower, identifying it as a Hippobroma longiflora (commonly called a Star of Bethlehem). Googling again for that scientific name I was able to find plenty of examples that confirmed this identification.

Hippobroma longiflora by George Shepherd Hippobroma longiflora by Dinesh Valke Photos credits George Shepherd, Dinesh Valke

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