Fritillaria 2019/20 season

[colin e]

As I said before, the Fritillaria gibbosa have started. The one I showed before is now in full flower, pictured below along with four more different single flowers.

Colin

[colin e]

Fritillaria eduardii var. inodora has at last decided to grow to its proper height. At the other end of the spectrum is Fritillaria serpenticola; it will get a bit taller than this but not by much. Fritillaria pluriflora seemed to take forever for the flowers to finish developing and open, which they have now done. But when I checked how long ago it was since I first mentioned them it is only two weeks. All pictured below.

Colin

[Steve Garvie]

Superb Frits Colin. Pluriflora is particularly attractive. You have had it colder than we have up here.

Last Autumn I moved my Rhinopetalums to a colder greenhouse which has numerous vents and doors at each end. This has significantly delayed their appearance. As always ariana is the first to show followed by stenanthera with gibbosa and karelinii only starting to flower in the last 10 days. The images aren’t great as the light levels here are dire!

Fritillaria stenanthera -the first came from Kath Dryden many years ago. The second is from the Karatau, Tajikistan.





Fritillaria ariana -the first image is a close-up of an individual flower. The second image shows how tall these plants (originally from Afghanistan) can get. They are at least 80cm tall with quite thick stems. The pot is next to a particularly drafty vent and the plants are showing some wind-burn on the leading leaflets above the flowers (the flower buds were unaffected). I've had to stake them (there are two separate plants in this pot, seed is usually set).





Fritillaria baisunensis -a recently described species from Shurab, Baisun-tau in Uzbekistan.

[colin e]

Thanks Steve. Yes we have had some cold weather but it has also been very mild at times. Like you we have noticed how bad the light levels have been because of the overcast weather, which we have found has made some plants etiolate.
I like your Fritillaria baisunensis. I am still uncertain if this name has been accepted. In general I do agree with Jānis Rukšāns it is very different from Fritillaria bucharica but they do seem to be very closely related. I can see one big problem with it - if people do not take care to prevent bucharica pollen getting on to it, the resulting seed raised plants end up looking just like bucharica and not baisunensis. I know, I have played with it.


Colin

[colin e]

The last Fritillaria gibbosa to flower for me this year is pictured below. A single bulb of Fritillaria crassifolia subsp hakkarensis, which I now think I should be calling Fritillaria hakkarensis, is flowering pictured below. Next year I should have two bulbs because this year the one bulb has two flowering shoots that have a total of six flowers, three on each shoot. A relatively new one for me is Fritillaria avromanica which is flowering for the second time. Last year it was even shorter than this. I had hoped one of the three other small bulbs would have flowered so I could make seed, but no such luck.  Fritillaria koidzumiana has managed to flower again for me after I seriously upset them a few years back by not taking them out of the greenhouse for summer dormancy. I do not know why this one bulb of Fritillaria latifolia (var nobilis) PF9169 has flowered so early for me. The other three smaller bulbs are only just coming into growth. Sorry the picture is not very good, but unfortunately I took it when we actually had some sunshine - a rarity this year. 

Colin

[Yann]

Fritillaria rhodocanakis subsp. argolica (??)
26cm, leaf > 13mm, yellow tipped

May be an hybrid F. spetsiotica x F rhodocanakis

I found an interesting publication https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333227474_Hybridization_and_karyotype_variability_of_three_endemic_Fritillaria_L_Liliaceae_in_Argolis_Peninsula_Greece?fbclid=IwAR1hfhqh7xzdXo0StTum7jqTtAzjJGX38rxNivSJfoi_Ovujn0x4IOYSzRw

[colin e]

It does not look like I have worked out how to get Fritillaria anhuiensis to flower yet. This is the third year I have grown it. The pot pictured below started out as one bulb. I am starting to think it could just be a plant that increases vegetativley rather than flowering and setting seed.
Now, nearly every pot I have is in growth whether it is roots out of the bottom of pots or shoots showing. Two pictures below show my plunges. They also show that it is time to isolate any plant you want to set true seed on by hand pollination. The next picture shows a Fritillaria yuminensis in isolation waiting for me to pollinate it. If you do not do this and you have a varied collection you run the risk of hybrids being made. The last picture shows what I mean. I was expecting a pot full of Fritillaria conica but that is not what I got. I harvested the seed off a Fritillaria conica in 2015 and I did have other plants of conica in flower but obviously that is not where the pollen came from. If I had to guess it probably came from a Fritillaria davisii but who knows.

Colin

[WSGR]

Fritillaria raddeana First year I have had this one!

[Steve Garvie]

Some more Rhinopetalum Frits in flower here. I’m not 100% certain that the species names are correct though most have come from wild-collected seed.

Fritillaria gibbosa



Fritillaria gibbosa



Fritillaria karelinii



Fritillaria karelinii



Fritillaria karelinii

[colin e]

I have been hand-pollinating the Fritillaria yuminensis that has been isolated. It is early days for me to know if I have been successful; picture below. One that I would like to make more of, but I currently only have one flowering size bulb, is Fritillaria fleischeriana JJA 495 560. I did have two, but I put a seed capsule on one which did not produce good seed and I only got one seedling out of it. To add insult to injury that bulb then did not regrow; a couple of pictures below. One that I seem to be doing well with at the moment is Fritillaria purdyi which is just starting to flower; picture below. Finally, one that I used to flower regularly before we moved is Fritillaria minuta. I think this is the first time it has flowered since we moved; picture below.   

Colin

[Yann]

purdyi is fascinating, a unique shape.

[colin e]

This is all about Fritillaria bucharica Pulkhakim or Fritillaria baisunensis. This plant has had a lot of names ascribed to it. I am not a botanist just an amateur grower so it is from this perspective I am coming. The first picture below is of a pot of seedlings that I got from hand pollinating a plant I had as Fritillaria bucharica Pulkhakim with another person’s similarly named plant. Both of these plants I suspected were not true, pure F. baisunensis but already had some normal bucharica in them (i.e. that both these plants were hybrids). I already knew it would cross very easily with ordinary bucharica having already done this cross and got a lot of viable seed. I would have to go back to 2008 to see a plant that may not have been diluted with ordinary bucharica, see picture below. The next picture shows the reverse of the tepals and petals of one of my seedlings showing the typical markings I would expect in this plant and not in bucharica. This is followed by a picture showing the anthers, one that has dehisced showing the yellow pollen as well as five that have not dehisced and look black. In the final image you can see five dehisced anthers and one that has not dehisced but still yellowish. Something I would expect of ordinary bucharica. Also going back to the first picture you can see my seedlings have lower leaves more like ordinary bucharica and not bucharica Pulkhakim (Fritillaria baisunensis). What I have tried this year is to cross two seedlings that look more like Fritillaria Pulkhakim/ baisunensis to see if I can get back to plants more like those in the second picture. Time will tell.
Jānis Rukšāns is the person that found the plant and subsequently put it forward as Fritillaria baisunensis. His description was published in The International Rock Gardener with some better pictures than mine.    (link http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2019Jun271561661867IRG114.pdf ).

Colin

[Ophrys]

The Fritillaria japonica is the first flowering Fritillaria this year for me. It has a very beautiful flower. It is a littl bit like a small white Fritillaria meleagris. But not only the flower is interesting, the bulb is interesting too. A flowering size bulb is not bigger than a pea. It is easy to overlook, when potting.

Ophrys

[Hannelore]

Fritillaria raddeana stayed small this year.

[Steve Garvie]

Fritillaria ayakoana -I would love to try some of the other Japanese Frits but they are rarely for sale in the UK.