Tab. 7631. 

 FRITILLARIA pluriflora. 



Native of Northern California. 



Nat. Ord. LiliacEjE.— Tribe Tdlipe^s. 

 Genua Fritillakia, Linn. (Benth. & Sook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 817.) 



Fkixillaeia (Theresia) pluriflora ; bulbo magno sqaamis maltis craasis 

 oblongis, caule erecto elongato, foliis pluribus confertis ascendentibus 

 lanceolatis vel linearibus inferioribus verticillatis vel oppositis superioribus 

 alternis, racemo multifloro, pedicellis elongatis apice cernuis, bracteis 

 magnis linearibus foliaceis, perianthio late aperto pallide rubro hand 

 tessellato, segmentis oblongis obtusis foveola viridi carinata obscura praedi- 

 tis, staminibuB periantbio distincte brevioribus, filamentis glabris, stylo 

 apice tantum stigmatoso tricnspidato, capsules valvis dorso rotundatis. 



F. pluriflora, Torrey in Frem. PI. Calif. Exsicc. No. 213. Benth. PL LTartweg. 

 p. 338 (name only). Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xiy. p. 270. S. Wats, 

 in Proc. Amer. Acad. vol. xiv. p. 259 ; Bot. Calif, vol. ii. p. 169. 



This rare and little-known Californian Fritillary is- very 

 different from the ordinary European and Oriental species 

 in its large bulb, widely-opened, untessellated, pale red 

 flowers, numerous crowded leaves and style, three-cleft 

 only at the very tip. Its nearest alliance is with F. per- 

 sica, Linn. (Bot. Mag. t. 1537). but that has comparatively 

 dull, bell-shaped flowers. It was first gathered by 

 Fremont in 1846, on the banks of the Feather river, an 

 affluent of the Sacramento, in the Sierra Nevada, Northern 

 California ; and two years later by Hartweg in the same 

 locality. It has only lately been introduced into cultiva- 

 tion in England. Our drawing was made from plants that 

 flowered at Kew in a cold frame last March and April, 

 the bulbs of which were presented to the Royal Gardens 

 in 1895 by Mr. Carl Purdy of Ukiah, California, who has 

 made a speciality of the cultivation of Californian bulbs. 



Bescr.—Bulb large for the genus, globose, with many 

 thick, oblong scales, an inch long. Stem terete, moderately 

 stout, stiffly erect, a foot or more long. Leaves eight to 

 fifteen, crowded, lanceolate or linear, ascending, the lower 

 verticillate or opposite, the upper alternate. Flowers four 

 to twelve in a lax raceme, pedicels long, cernuous at the 

 Decembee 1st, 1898. 



