Some years ago I bought a packet of seed from Phyllis Gustafson of Medford, Oregon, identified as Fritillaria micrantha. Eventually one of the two plants raised flowered and appeared to be Fritillaria recurva, so I asked Phyllis about it, and she told me she had the seed from Frank Callahan, a native tree specialist (and expert on Sasquatch). I knew Frank had a population of the so-called Fritillaria gentneri on his property, and this "species" forms variable swarms, being a natural hybrid of F. recurva and F. affinis, so I hoped for a more gentneri-like plant eventually. That must have been more than 10 years ago, and finally the hoped-for one has flowered, next to and two weeks after its recurva sibling. The two stems of the former bear the typical large, bell-shaped gentneri flowers (not recurving) with purple-brown tessellation on a reddish-greenish-buff background. Both plants have numerous large non-flowering basal leaves (characteristic of the affinis group), so perhaps there will be a nice clump of them in ensuing years. Also in flower from this group are Fritillaria affinis itself in the open garden, and in the bulb house, a fine stand of Fritillaria eastwoodiae (really just F. recurva with half-size flowers) and a single stem of Fritillaria viridea. I think Fritillaria ojaiensis is probably in the same group, but it hasn't deigned to flower this year. I never have obtained seed of F. micrantha, though. These tall, multi-flowered fritillarias range down the Pacific Coast of North America from British Columbia to southern California, with the most diversity in southern Oregon and northern California. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…