FRITILLARIES 129 



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strange and unique character. The family name 

 Fritillary is derived from the Latin word fntillus, a 

 dice-box, which is the common accompaniment of a 

 chequer-board, which the markings of the flower re- 

 semble ; while its specific name, meleagris, also applied 

 to a guinea-fowl, has reference to the same peculiarity. 

 The plant is well described by old Gerard in his Herbal, 

 and is worth quoting, alike for the quaintness of the 

 language and for the accuracy of the delineation. 

 " The Checquered Daffodill or Ginny-hen Floure," as 

 he calls the fritillary, " hath small narrow grassie 

 leaves, among which there riseth up a stalke three 

 hands high, having at the top one or two floures, which 

 consisteth of six small leaves chequered most strangely : 

 wherein Nature, or rather the Creator of all things, hath 

 kept a very wonderful order, surpassing (as in all other 

 things) the curioustest painting that Art can set 

 doune. One square is of a greenish-yellow colour, 

 the other purple, keeping the same order as well 

 on the backside of the floure as on the inside, although 

 they are blackish in one square, and of a Violet 

 colour in an other ; insomuch that every leafe seemeth 

 to be the feather of a Ginny hen, whereof it tooke 

 his name." 



It has been questioned whether the fritillary, or 

 ginny-hen flower, is really an indigenous plant in Great 

 Britain, and indeed it is ranked by Watson as a 

 " denizen " that is, as a species labouring under sus- 

 picion of having been introduced by human agency. It 

 is certainly a curious fact that the early botanists pass 

 over the plant in silence, for it is undoubtedly one of the 

 most showy species in the British flora. There is no 

 mention of it in Turner, or Johnson, or Ray. Gerard, 



