Paige Woodward wrote:
>What, botanically, is the difference between Fritillaria and (should one
>decide to maintain it) Rhinopetalum?
My impression is that the only people who do maintain this difference are
those who are using the Flora of the USSR and associated floras from the
Soviet era. We see the name Rhinopetalum a lot because the very active
Czech seed collectors still use it.
The Rhinopetalum fritillarias are distinguished by a very deeply indented
nectary which appears as a "noselike" (hence the name) protrusion on the
reverse ("outside") of the tepal. I don't know in what other
characteristics, if any, they differ from other sections (if that is the
correct term) of Fritillaria.
Many of them are in flower now or about to flower. They include some of the
more colorful members of the genus, and the Imperialis group flowers at
this time also, so there is a lot of color in the bulb frames from frits
now, even though only a minority bloom so early.
Jane McGary
NW Oregon