490 FRITILLARIA. [class vi. order i. 



Well could I call thee in thy gaudy pride 

 The Queen of Flowers ; but, blooming' by thy side 

 Her thousand leaves that beams of love adorn. 

 Her throne surrounded by protecting thorn, 

 And smell eternal form a juster claim, 

 ^ Which gives the heaven born Rose the lofty name, 



Who having slept throughout the wintry storm, 

 Now through the opening buds displays her smiling form." 



GENUS XVII. FRITILLA'RIA.— Linn. Fritillary. 



Nat. Ord. Lilia'ce^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Perianth campanulate, of six pieces, each with a nec- 

 tariferous cavity at the base. Stigmas three, spreading. Capsule 

 oblong, three celled, three valved. Seeds flat.— Name from 

 fritillus, a Dice-board, from the chequered markings of the flowers. 



1. F. Melea'gris, Linn. (Fig. 557.) Common Fritillary. Stem one 

 or two flowered, leafy ; leaves linear lanceolate, alternate ; points of 

 the perianth acute, inflexed, each at its base with a linear pore. 



English Botany, t. 622.^English Flora, vol. ii. p. 139.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 163. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 266. 



Bulh small, roundish, depressed. Stem erect, about a foot high, 

 round, smooth, simple, leafy to near the top. Leaves linear lanceolate, 

 sessile, with an acute point, alternate, and mostly at regular distances 

 from each other, more or less channeled and recurved, of a somewhat 

 glaucous green. Flowers solitary or in pairs, terminal, drooping, bell- 

 shaped, inodorous, beautifully marked in a tesselated manner, with 

 light and dark purple squarish spots, regularly arranged in an alternate 

 manner, frequently of a pale colour, almost white, but still chequered 

 more or less distinctly. Perianth about an inch long, or longer, of six 

 equal oblong concave pieces, acutely pointed, the points turned inwards, 

 thickened and somewhat fleshy at the base, where it has on its inner 

 surface a linear nectariferous pore. Stamens six, about half as long as 

 the perianth. Filaments slender, awl-shaped, bearing large oblong 

 yellow anthers, of two cells, bursting laterally. Style erect, longer 

 than the stamens, simple, terminating in three oblong spreading stig- 

 mas. Capsule oblong, obtusely three angled, three celled, and opening 

 with three valves. Seeds numerous, flat, crowded in two rows. 



Habitat. — Meadows and pastures in the Eastern and Southern 

 Counties of England. 



Perennial ; flowering in April. 



The Fritillary, also called Chequered Dafi"odil and Snake's head, is 

 so common in some parts of Suffolk and Norfolk as to be a trouble- 

 some weed ; but the beauty and elegance of the flowers, has rendered it 

 a favourite garden plant in places where it is 1p5S oonimon. It fre- 



