Fritillaria 2009

[Gerry Webster]

Sorry to be pedantic but the correct name is Fritillaria kotschyana. Compare with Crocus kotschyanus.
Both are named after the Austrian Botanist Theodor Kotschy (1813 - 1866).

[Tony Willis]

Gerry I do not mind you being pedantic,I have amended my post.Thank you.

Otto I got mine from Dieter Zschummel in Germany. He said at the time he was doubtful about the naming.In the abscence of anything better I kept with what I was given.As usual the names seem a mess in frits like all the other bulbs we grow.

[Roma]

Flowering now in the greenhouse - Fritillaria recurva.

[Lesley Cox]

Isn't it a lovely thing Roma? I spent all the year looking forward to mine when it flowers in October.

[chasw]

Two more in flower for me today
Frit Yuminensis
Frit Rixii
and Ferganensis and Walujewii Regal to follow shortly,not a very good picture of Rixii apologies for that

[Sinchets]

Fritillaria ruthenica (or at least the plant I grow as this) and Fritillaria affinis (?) today in the garden. 

[Gerry Webster]

Fritillaria ruthenica (or at least the plant I grow as this) and Fritillaria affinis (?) today in the garden. 

Simon - the leaves don't look right for F. ruthenica,  they should be tendril-like at the tips very  like F. thunbergii (= F. verticillata of gardens). I suspect your plant is one of the confusing F. tenella, F. nigra complex.

[Diane Clement]

Can anyone tell me the difference between F elwesii and F latakiensis.  I have both from reputable sources and also some coming up in other pots, probably due to transfer of the huge amount of rice they make.  They all look identical except for height, and some are single headed, some double.  None of this seems enough to differentiate them and I wonder if mine are actually all the same.  All sources of information that I can find do not give enough information about both to confirm identity one way or the other.

[Ian Y]

Can anyone tell me the difference between F elwesii and F latakiensis.

Diane
I think I remember that the style of F latakiensis is clearly divided into three while F elwesii has a more or less undivided style.
I will have a look at my plants in the daylight tomorrow.

[Sinchets]

Thanks Gerry- I have 3 patches outside from different sources, so I'll check tomorrow to see if any have tendrils. The 'real' F.ruthenica is on our list of ones to find here in Bulgaria- one day.
Diane - the ones I have grown as F.latakiensis have always made a slimmer, narrower flower than the ones I grow as F.elwesii. Mine are not quite flowering yet, and maybe they came from the same sources as yours anyway 

[Lesley Cox]

Fritillaria ruthenica (or at least the plant I grow as this) and Fritillaria affinis (?) today in the garden. 

I'm not sure about the F. affinis either as it usually has an open bell shape, and the leaves are different, in a whorl at the base, 4 or 5 leaves all on the same plane. This one doesn't look like an American to me. Happy to be corrected though.

[Gerry Webster]

Can anyone tell me the difference between F elwesii and F latakiensis.

Diane
I think I remember that the style of F latakiensis is clearly divided into three while F elwesii has a more or less undivided style.
I will have a look at my plants in the daylight tomorrow.

Martyn Rix (Flora of Turkey) says both have trifid  styles though the branches are shorter in  F. elwesii where  the style is  7 - 10mm, very stout with  branches of  1 - 3.5 mm. In  F. latakiensis the style  is 8-9 mm  & it is  divided to the middle.   The most obvious difference is that  the perianth segments of F. elwesii have a clear green stripe.

[Sinchets]

Lesley -the F.affinis is a guess on my behalf as it was planted out with the label F.montana- the nearest label to this particular bulb when it was rescued from our vole attacked bulb bed. I'd love to know what it is as i certianly don't remember having anything like this flower for me before.

[Gerry Webster]

Thanks Gerry- I have 3 patches outside from different sources, so I'll check tomorrow to see if any have tendrils. The 'real' F.ruthenica is on our list of ones to find here in Bulgaria- one day.

Simon - it would be very good if you could find the 'real' F. ruthenica. I had  it  about 20 years ago  from Ole Sønderhausen. Sadly the plant is  long departed as, even more sadly, is  Sønderhausen. All  the plants I have seen  since under this name have been misidentified. I remember a very good painting of the real thing some years ago in, I think, The Plantsman but I don't have a copy.

[Sinchets]

Gerry- i was hoping the F.ruthenica was true as the flowers looked like the pic in a guide- but the guide also says, as you did that the species, has tendrils. Anyway the real thing is supposed to grow over in the West of Bulgaria in the hills along the Serbian and Macedonian- along with F.montana and F.meleagroides- according to our Flora Bulgarica.