Fritillaria species originating in Europe are described on this page.
Fritillaria burnatii syn. Fritillaria meleagris ssp. burnatii
Fritillaria conica is endemic to the Peloponnese where it grows in scrub. It has shiny green leaves and deep yellow conical flowers and is one of the easier yellow-flowered species to grow. Photo by John Lonsdale.
Fritillaria davisii is found on hillsides, scrub, olive groves and cornfields at low altitudes in the Peloponnese (Greece). This species has two broad leaves that rest on the ground and dark chocolate waxy flowers that are yellowish-green inside. This color shows lightly through to the outside petal tip. This species increases well. First two photos, by Mary Sue Ittner, are of plants blooming in February 2005 in Northern California. Third photo by John Lonsdale.
Fritillaria ehrhartii from the Aegean Islands of Greece, flowering in a bulb frame in Oregon in late March, showing the typical dusky purple flowers with a gray "bloom" on the outer surface and the small golden apices of the tepals. These four-year-old seedlings are in their second flowering year, an easy species to cultivate with a little overhead protection. Photo by Jane McGary.
Fritillaria euboeica Grown from seed purchased from Archibalds. This handsome plant, native to the Greek island of Evvoia, is closely related to F. carica and may be a subspecies of it. The flowers, on 5-inch/12-cm stems, are large in proportion. Photos by Jane McGary and John Lonsdale.
Fritillaria gussichiae is native to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Greece where it is found in woodlands and has pale green untessellated flowers flushed brown. Photo by John Lonsdale.
Fritillaria meleagris, is one of the best known species in cultivation noted for its checkering and many common names such as "Snake's head fritillary". It is from Great Britain and other parts of Europe and is found in wet meadows. The white variety is less common as are the ones with two or three flowers per stem. Seed germinates at the end of Winter and flowers in its third season. It is short term viable and should be sown or stored in a fridge (40F). The bulbs become dormant by the start of Summer. Photos by Arnold Trachtenberg, David Pilling, and Mary Sue Ittner.
The next series of photographs by David Pilling show the detail of the pattern. Rather than a perfect checkerboard, this consists of lines of round blobs. The blobs in one line being positioned next to the spaces in the adjacent line. When the pattern is not regular it is possible to see that the blobs seem to repel one another. This sort of pattern is common in the natural world. The mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing published a paper "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" in 1952 which showed such patterns could be generated from a set of reaction-diffusion equations. The idea is that there are two chemicals, morphogens, an activator and an inhibitor. Production of the activator also generates the inhibitor which decreases the production of the activator, the relative speeds of diffusion control the pattern formed.
One common name "the guinea hen flower" explains the botanical; meleagris is the Greek for guinea fowl (numida meleagris), a noisy bird domesticated by the ancient Greeks, and a number of highly patterned species of birds and fish have meleagris applied to them c.f. Tigridia meleagris. Meleager was a hero in Greek mythology, following his death, his sisters cried unendingly and the god Artemis changed them into guinea hens, the markings of these birds are supposed to be their tears.
Fritillaria meleagris ssp. burnatii syn. Fritillaria burnatii. As well as the type, there is a single subspecies burnatii found only in alpine grassland in Italy and France which has purple petals as against pink/white. Photographs of examples in cultivation by Ian Young.
Fritillaria meleagris 'Aphrodite' is a form with white and green veined and lightly chequered flowers. Photo by Michael J. Campbell.
Photographs of bulbs and seeds taken by David Pilling. The first one shows the lilium like seed on a 10mm grid; the next photograph is of flowering size bulbs with shoots evident in September. The third picture captures the bottom of a bulb with an offset forming and the fourth the top of a bulb. Note the basal plate on the bottom and the hole in the top. The final image is of bulbs the correct way up.
Fritillaria messanensis is a Mediterranean species with flowers that are hanging bells of chequered brown and green with a green stripe down the center of each petal. Blooming for the first time in March 2006 from seed sown in the fall of 1999. Photo by Mary Sue Ittner.
Fritillaria messanensis ssp. gracilis from the northwestern Balkan region is a plant of alpine meadows and light woodland, well adapted to gardens in temperate regions. Shown flowering in Oregon in late March. Photo by Jane McGary.
Fritillaria obliqua is native to the vicinity of Athens, Greece, where it is endangered owing to loss of habitat to development. The name obliqua refers to the slightly tilted attitude of the flowers, as shown in the photo. The deep purple tepals are satiny in texture, contrasting with the bright golden pollen within. Shown flowering in a bulb frame in Oregon in March. Photo by Jane McGary.
Fritillaria pontica is native to mountains in Albania, Bulgaria, northern Greece and western Turkey. It grows to 20-38 cm (8-15 inches) and has a whorl of three leaves over the grey-green flowers. It was described by Mathew in The Smaller Bulbs as often having a warm brownish suffusion, especially on the apex and margins of the segments. Inside the green is shaded and veined brown with a band around the petal edges. Photos by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller. Bob took pictures of the inside of the flowers, but did not note which one was Fritillaria pontica and which one was the subspecies listed below. Perhaps the second one is the subspecies as it has red on the petals.
Fritillaria pontica ssp. substipelata syn. Fritillaria theophrasti has been described as a subspecies found on a Greek Island and having thinner leaves and taller stems. Inside the petals have a deep red patch at the petal tips. I'm not sure what to call this plant grown from seed labeled as this subspecies, but it is surviving in a raised bed in northern California in a deep pot where it probably retains moisture in the summer better than it would in the ground. Photos from Mary Sue Ittner.
Fritillaria pyrenaica is from the Pyrenees (southern France and Northern Spain) where it grows on grassy stony slopes and in woods. The most common form has large dark chocolate long bells that are yellow green inside but they can be chequered red and brown with a yellow-green stripe of even yellow.. It flowers in spring. Photos by John Lonsdale. The first is of a robust form and the second of a cultivar 'Cedric Morris'.
Fritillaria rhodocanakis is endemic to the Greek island Hydra where it is found growing on limestone hillsides. It blooms in spring and has purple to maroon flowers with yellow tips. Photo by Bill Dijk.
Fritillaria rixii is a Greek species with yellow flowers. Photo by John Lonsdale.
Fritillaria tubiformis Several color forms of this species from southeastern France and northern Italy are shown, grown from cultivated seed from a seed exchange and flowering in March in a bulb frame in Oregon. The yellow forms are distinguished as subsp. moggridgei. See also the note under F. latifolia above. The habit of flowering right at ground level is typical and one of the charms of this species; the flowers themselves are relatively quite large. However, height is variable, and the second photo shows taller forms grown from wild-collected seed. Photos by Jane McGary.
The following two pictures of a plant grown in a coldframe were taken on March 27, 2008 in the USDA zone 7 Montgomery County, Maryland, USA garden of Jim McKenney. These appear to be intermediate between the typical form and the yellow form moggridgei.
Fritillaria tuntasia is an easily grown Greek Island species with conical black purple flowers. Photo by John Lonsdale.
Fritillaria whittallii is from the mountains of Turkey. Photograph by Michael J. Campbell.
Asian Fritillaria A-J - Asian Fritillaria K-Z - Fritillaria index - Miscellaneous Fritillaria - North American Fritillarias