Fritillaria 2009

[John Mitchell]

This is frit delavayi growing in the wild it has taken me about 8 years to actually see it flower.

You must have been over joyed to see this frit growing out of a crevice - the rock backdrop sets it off in a way I have never seen before in the wild and the colour is beautiful - what height did you find it growing at John and where was it?

It was growing on Big snow mountain near the sichuan border and its height was only 5 inches and also growing next to it was Rheum nobile in full flower. What a day

[Paul T]

Good grief.  And it is just growing out of "rubble" like that?  Amazing.

[Janis Ruksans]

Is F.fusca close to F.delavayi, Janis?
This is the plant I bought as F.delavayi about 5 or 6 years ago from China. It looks like F.cirrhosa to me.

This is frit delavayi growing in the wild it has taken me about 8 years to actually see it flower.

Your picture confused me, it looks very different from mine, but leaves seem to be identical. I just decided that my frit must be renaymed as delavayi. I checked its flower and it seem that anthers looks basifixed (delavayi) not subdorsifixed (fusca). Of course deifference between basi and subdorsi is very small.  Tepals of my flower are very, even extremely thick, very hard. Hope it will rise seed capsule although I have only one flower (handpollinated). Then identification woul be easier as in delavayi capsule is narrowly winged, enclosed by persistent tepals (thickness of them seem to confirming long life). In fusca capsule is unwinged and not enclosed by tepals.
Janis

[wolfgang vorig]

some Fritillarias
 F. pallidiflora
 F. biflora Martha Roderick 1 purdyi
 F. biflora Martha Roderick   purdyi
 

[Gerdk]

Pollinators
When I tried to take a pic of Fritillaria camschatcensis I disturbed a party of flies which were creeping around the stamina - some of them with their back loaden with pollen. When I smelled at the flowers I noted a musty odor which obviously attracted these insects. The dark color of the flowers suggests pollination by flies also.
If you look carefully one fly is visible inside the flower at the third pic.

Gerd

[gote]

Thank you Janis and Simon.
I will call my pictures 'unibracteata' As said my died also.
Göte

[gote]

Gerd,
I just noticed Your F camtschatkensis is different from mine. My blackish one has flowers where the tepals bend inwards whereas my yellow has this bell shape.
Swap??
Comments anyone?
Göte

[Sinchets]

I would really like your opinions on this Fritillaria, photographed yesterday by a friend.

[Gerry Webster]

I would really like your opinions on this Fritillaria, photographed yesterday by a friend.

Simon - looks like F. pontica, though I've never seen one with that flared flower shape.

[Sinchets]

Yes Gerry, the pic was taken in the Strandja area of Bulgaria, in an oak wood, yesterday.
The altitude was about 200m and the F.pontica were still flowering, although they are setting seed in the mountains near us just now, where they are 500m higher.
It seems strange that they should be flowering now in the south, where the vegetation is moving into summer flowers.
The population showed a wider variation in flower form and colour than more northerly ones have done. The top leaves above the flowers are also considerably narrower and plants more gracile than standard F.pontica. Apart from the reflexed specimen some plants had flowers which were less bell shaped.
A few pages ago I was wondering whether F.pontica graded into F.pontica substipulata, as you moved further south through its range. It would be interesting if anyone has any pics of F.pontica from the area of Turkey adjacent to Bulgaria, as well as mainland Turkey opposite Lesvos.

[Gerry Webster]

Very interesting Simon. It is certainly a more graceful form with narrower leaves than those I have seen in cultivation.

As regards F. pontica subsp substipelata: the RBG Monocot Checklist tells me that the accepted name is now F. theophrasti [Kamari & Phitos, Biol. Gallo-Hellen. 26(Suppl.): 70 (2000)]; i.e., it is now regarded as a distinct species. 

I believe Kamari is a notorious 'splitter' (c.f 'F. graeca') so perhaps your Strandja form will eventually become a distinct species too!

[Sinchets]

Thanks Gerry. So is Kamari the person who gave us F.mutabilis and other such wonders? If so, then I fear the patch of woodland in the Strandja will have at least 3 new species of Frit or subspecies of F.pontica all within the same quadrat. When, and if, I ever win a lottery, my mission will be to drive south from the Strandja into Turkey, then round to Lesvos just to see what happens to F.pontica on the way. 

[Gerry Webster]

Thanks Gerry. So is Kamari the person who gave us F.mutabilis and other such wonders?

I think so.

[Mike Ireland]

Wolfgang
Lovely frits.  Are the two photos of F. martha roderick possibly F. purdyi.  Attached two photos of what I have as F. affinis biflora Martha Roderick.

[Gerry Webster]

Wolfgang
Lovely frits.  Are the two photos of F. martha roderick possibly F. purdyi.  Attached two photos of what I have as F. affinis Martha Roderick.

Mike - I think you are right about Wolfgang's plant - it does look like F. purdyi.

However, I'm not sure about the identity of your plant, though I am by no means familiar with all the American frits. The PBS website refers to F. affinis 'Wayne Roderick' (not 'Martha Roderick', which is a cultivar of F. biflora) but their pic looks nothing like your plant. Without seeing the leaf arrangement it is very difficult to determine whether this is a form of  F. affinis. Earlier in this thread Lesley posted a photo of F. affinis showing the leaf arrangement very clearly.

Whatever your plant is, it's a very attractive frit.