March :3, 16»o. ’ 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
217 
spotted with bright green, and surrounded by an irregular margin 
of yellowish green, which extends to their edges. When these 
■^re at their best last season Mr. Baker, the Curator of the garden, 
obligingly gratified the writer’s desire to have a characteristic 
specimen, from which a drawing has been made and forwarded to 
the Editor with a view to its identity being determined, and some 
idea of its distribution in this country ascertained. Concerning 
its origin but little can be gleaned. There does not appear to be 
any record of the introduction of this plant into the garden, and 
very little information can be obtained respecting it. It is, how¬ 
ever, certain that for many decades it was confined to the same 
sheltered spot, in which it can be remembered as growing for a 
long period before one of the most charming of old garden flowers 
which bordered on it—the dainty pale-blue Wood Anemone— 
acquired the n.ame of A. nemorosa Robinsoniana ; here, seemingly, 
as though designed to afford the protection of shade or shelter 
during the stages of maturation, at the rear of it a Mandrake 
plant, Mandragora vernalis, extended to it its ample leaves. Such 
IS the situation in which the Fritillaria has flourished. It may be 
rnentioned as of some interest that it is one of the many plants 
that for generations have been preserved within the imposing old 
walls of what erst was known as the Oxford Physic Garden, and 
which in well remembered cases were from thence redistributed 
after having been for long lost sight of in this country as living 
specimens. 
Evidently Fritillaries thrive remarkably well in this garden ; the 
situation for them is as favourable as could be desired, and con¬ 
sequently they produce annually an abundance of flowers. Outside 
the garden, too, in the meadows through which the rivers Isis and 
Cherwell flow (the latter of which forms the boundary of tie 
garden on the eastward side), notably in that of Christ Church, 
within view of the confluence of the two streams, the native 
chequered Fritillary abounds in all its most familiar forms. These 
curiously shaped flowers with, in many instances, their mosaic-like 
markings cannot be definitely localised, for they are to be met with 
over a very wide area. They extend, as is locally well known, up 
the rivers’ sides, and in respect to the principal one to a distance as 
far as Thames Head, the indisputable source of the river, and of 
much past controversy therewith. Within easy walking distance 
of this point there is a field that has been famed for them time out 
of mind. Owing to their comparatively early period of flowering 
they are not as well known to the majority of people as many of 
the indigenous riverside summer flowers, for before the genial 
weather that contributes so much to the pleasure of those accus¬ 
tomed to resort to the river can invest it with the chiefest charm 
of its attractiveness the Fritillary flowers have vanished. An 
account of their extensive growth in the Oxford meadows has 
already appeared in the pages of this Journal, and notwithstanding 
the enormous quantities that are annually gathered they reappear 
year after year apparently undiminished. So long as the flowers 
only are plucked there need be little apprehension of their eventual 
partial disappearance from the meads in which they now luxuriate, 
but there is, unhappily, occasion to raise an emphatic word of 
warning in the presence of the fact that entire plants when in 
blooin are extensively collected for sale, and these, as may be 
imagined, when planted regardless of their requirements almost 
invariably perish. Until quite recently, however, the Fritillaries 
have been chiefly sought for by those possessing a fondness for 
flowers, whose desires in respect to them would be satisfied in 
gathering a well-chosen handful, and who would regard them with 
perhaps as much favour as many expensive exotic blooms from 
having been afforded some delight in obtaining them. It will be 
understood as being an entirely different matter fraught with 
palpable significance when whole fields are denuded of them by 
itinerant wild-flower gatherers, who in increasing numbers collect 
them with unrestrained activity for dispatching to various destina¬ 
tions. The most reprehensible practice, however, is that of re¬ 
moving the roots in a wholesale manner, for which the severest 
censure is justifiable when it is remembered that we^e it not for 
the prospect of its continuation the Snake’s-head Fri tillary might 
be considered as being permanently established in the river meads 
of the University, where they are, particularly when seen for the 
first time, of sufficiently striking appearance to excite admiration, 
as well as to arouse into action the acquisitive propensity that is so 
essentially human. 
Parkinson states, in Chapter iv. of his “ Paradisus Terrestris ” 
(1629), that “of Fritillaria, or the chekered Daffodill, there are 
nalfe a score seuerall sorts, both white and red, both yellow and 
blacke, which are a wonderfull grace and ornament to a Garden in 
regard of_the checker like spots are in the flowers.” Such was his 
estimation of them when recording “the nature and names of 
diuers Out-landish flowers, that for their pride, beauty, and earli- 
nesse, are to be planted in Gardens of pleasure for delight.” No 
particular medicinal virtues appear to have been accredited to the 
Fritillaria, for he remarks that “ the chiefe or only use thereof is, 
to be an ornament for the Gardens of the curious lovers of these 
delights and to be worn of them abroad.” Of the more than forty 
kinds at present known he describes twelve, and of these he illus¬ 
trated eight, observing of the native F. Meleagris that it “ beareth 
two flowers, and seldom three.” This species derived its name, as 
implied, from the appearance of the flower resembling the mark 
ings of the feathers of the guinea hen, and according to Parkinson 
“ was brought to our knowledge from Orleance ” under the name 
of Narcissus Caparonius, given to it in compliment to Noel Caperon, 
who first discovered it, and who was, “ after the finding thereof, 
taken away in the Massacre in France, recalling a period of one of 
the most heartless fanatical persecutions and horrible sacrifice of 
human lives ever sanctioned or perpetrated in the name of religion. 
A Fritillaria racemosa is figured in the “ Botanical Magazine,” 
vol. XXX., t. 1216, from a specimen bearing only two small flower.^, 
and this is said to be the one frequently mentioned by Pallas in 
his travels under the specific name of Meleagris, for which he mis¬ 
took it. Under the same name a plant is figured in the “ Botanical 
Magazine,” vol. xxiv., t. 952, having four blossoms, stated as being 
“ evidently the plant from which Linneeus characterised his 
pyrenaica.” The figure in the “Magazine” undoubtedly represents 
different forms to that of the Oxford Botanic Garden. In 
passing it may be of interest to note, in confirmation of the 
admitted absence of any particular medicinal virtues of Fritil- 
larias, in “ Stirpum leones Chabroei ” (1666) the author, an 
M.D., wrote, “ Fritillariie autem vsus Medicus nullus.” It will be 
observed that this work was published at Geneva the same year as 
that in which the Fire of London raged so terribly. In the second 
volume of Rudbeck’s “ Campi Elysii” (1701) thirteen species and 
varieties are figured. One of these, F. polyanthos flavo-viridis, 
resembles the Oxford one in point of shape more nearly thin any 
other as yet met with, but the presence of the tessellated markings 
serves to terminate the comparison. In referring to this admirable 
work one cannot but be moved by feelings that are not easily 
expressed, for it furnishes a sorrowful incident in the annals of 
scientific research. It was the joint undertaking of Olaus lludbeck 
and his son, both of whom in turn were professors of botany at 
