Fritillaria 2012

[kalle-k.dk]

Is there anyone who can tell me what kind of species which I have discovered grow between my Rhododendron. It is 40 cm. high.

[ronm]

Its Fritillaria camschatcensis Karl.

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-306541

http://www.fritillaria.org.uk/Image%20Pages/fritillaria_camschatcensis.htm

http://www.fritillariaicones.com/icones/icones_c.html

[olegKon]

Gerry, I bought it from Norman stevens in 2004 so I found his catalogue of that yeaer. This is what he writes there: Greece  20 cm  Pale green tesselated pale brown flowers.

[kalle-k.dk]

I grow Fritillaria camschatcensis but I dont think they look identical.

[Gerry Webster]

Gerry, I bought it from Norman stevens in 2004 so I found his catalogue of that yeaer. This is what he writes there: Greece  20 cm  Pale green tesselated pale brown flowers.

Oleg - Thanks.  It looks purple  in your photo which is why I asked!

[ronm]

Regarding F.camschatcensis, I found this paper fascinating.

http://eprints2008.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/26240/1/3(5)_P219-232.pdf

[ronm]

F.biflora

Usually once my American Frits are potted they don't get disturbed again, other than for distribution or if the pot becomes too congested. However this year I had a pot full of F.biflora, three year old from seed. One of them ( out of about 50 in the pot) flowered this year. I have a number of pots of these and have never had one flower earlier than 5 years previously. So I decided to take it out of the pot and separate it from the others in case this was a feature of this plant, ( guess I'll know in 4 years time as no seed from it this year! ). Before I repotted it I took the picture below to show the thick contractile roots which aid this species to escape the high summer temperatures in its home on the open grassy slopes of the California hills. Normally these anchor the bulbs at around 20 cm in depth, but it is not necessary to achieve this in cultivation, ( and is probably not desirable, as this depth of compost in a pot may not dry satisfactorily for this species ).
I have removed the mass of 'regular' feeding roots for clarity of picture.

[Lesley Cox]

Ron, it seems a wickedly ungrateful way to treat a frit which flowered for you at an earlier-than-usual time. First lifting it then removing many of its roots before repotting. I hope its natural vigour continues to support it and lets it flourish in the future. You must have a much more enquiring mind than I do, as I would probably just have been happy to have one flower at a young age, and thought no more about it.

[ronm]

I don't think it felt a thing Lesley, it had snuggled down for the summer 

[Diane Whitehead]

I'm travelling through the Alaska panhandle on our boat.

The vegetation is incredibly lush, due of course to all the rain
and the long days.  (I haven't seen a dark sky yet.)

Here are some Fritillaria camschatcensis growing on rocks
just above the high tide mark in Meyers Chuck.  They varied
a bit in colour, some being unmarked and very dark, others
a bit greenish.

[Maggi Young]

My goodness, Diane, what exciting trips you do have! Super photos of a  favourite Fritillaria .

[ronm]

Thanks for posting these lovely pictures Diane . Must be a wonderful journey through some very interesting country.
I was only reading recently how in Washington State, F.camschatcensis is restricted to tidal marshes of Puget Sound and freshwater montane wetlands in the west slope of the Cascade Mountains. It seems this species is able to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions and stresses ( including saline soils ), as long as water is readily available.
It is thought that F. camschatcensis was purposely cultivated and planted in coastal estuaries by native peoples. Research is ongoing into the plants requirements with a view to perhaps reintroducing it into original areas, because of its cultural significance.

[Gerry Webster]

Diane - if you get hungry on your voyage you could always eat the  F. camschatcensis. There is an interesting article on this & related matters by Ståhlberg & Svanberg here:

http://www.sgr.fi/susa/91/stahlbergsvanberg.pdf

[Diane Whitehead]

I showed a local man my photos of the Chocolate
Lilies and he didn't recognize them.  Then I said
they were also called Rice Root because their bulbs
looked like a cluster of white rice.  That triggered
his memory.  He had eaten them sixty years ago and
would show me where they had been growing then.  He
hoped he hadn't eaten them all.

He took me through the muddy woods, past grizzly bear
scat, to the other side of the island.  There they
were - growing with Silverweed (Potentilla) on the
shore, and with Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja) along
a dike.  I wondered what the dike maker had used, as
the frits growing on it were taller than any I have
seen - they came to the top of my legs.  It might just
have been because the soil was so much deeper than the
rocky soil on the shore.

[ronm]

What a wonderful sight. Thanks Diane.