F R I T I L L A R I A. 
70 
not boot aown ; tiiey nre of a dark purple colour, and 
ap.pear in May, bat-feldom produce feeds in England ; 
the towefl: leaves grow in pairs, three or four together, 
oppolite, in whirls; root the (ize of an orange, of a tafle 
extremely bitter, but without any remarkable fntell. 
Suppofed to be a native of Periia ; and t,-have appeared 
in Europe in 1573. Gmelin found it in Rufiia. Culti¬ 
vated liere in Gerardo’s garden, in 1596. In his Herbal 
he fays that it is a deiiizon in fome few of our London 
gardens. Parkinfon, 1629, inform^ us that it was fent 
unto us by the means of divers Turkey merchants from 
Conflantinople ; and elpecially by the procurement of 
Mr. Nicholas Lete, a worthy merchant, and a lover of all 
•fair flowers. 
13 . Tlte Imall Perfian lily, (whicli Mr. Miller mtikes a 
dilfinci: fpecies,) lias a much Ihorter (tern, and fmaller 
letives; the ftem bninchesout at the top into feveral fmall 
peduncles, each fufiaining one dark-coloured flower. 
3. Eritillaria Pyreuaica, or b!;ick fritillary: lowefl 
leaves oppofite ; fome of the flowers having a leaf in- 
terpofed between them. 1 he leaves of ih.is are broader, 
and of a deeper green, than the common fritilltiry ; the 
lower leaves are oppolite, but thole above alternate; 
flem a foot and half high, terminated by two flowers of 
an obfcure yello'v colour, and fpreading more at the brim 
than thole of; the common fritill iry, but turned down¬ 
wards in the fatrie manner; it flowers tliree weeks after 
that. It is a native of France and Rufiia. 
4. Eritillaria meleagris, common I'ritillary, or cliecquer- 
ed lily: all the leaves alternate; fiern one-flowered. 
Root a folid bulb or tuber, about the fize of a hazel-nut, 
wl'.ite or yellowifh-white, roiindilli, comprelTed, divifible 
into feveral, incloleJ by the withered wrinkled bulb of 
the preceding year, as in a cafe ; flem from lix to twelve, 
fifteen, and eveneighteen, inches in height, :\dvancing con- 
fiderably in lengtii after flowering; it comes out from 
the fide of the root, is limple, upright, round, (mooth, 
glaucous, and not unfrequently purpliih ; leaves three 
or lour, fometimes five or fix, grafs-like, diltantly alter¬ 
nate, iialf embracing, round on the under, and hollow on 
tile upper, fide, fomewhat twifted and glaucous. See 
the Botany Plate X. fig. 26. Flower ufually fingle, 
fometimes two, or even three, on the top of the fiem, 
large, pendulous, at firft fomewhat pyramidal, but after¬ 
wards bell-lhaped; petals checqnered with purple and 
white, or purple and greenilh yellow ; in our wild ones 
the colour is a dull red checqnered with a deeper, but 
witliout mixture-of either green or yellow. Native of 
the louthern countries of Europe. Found alfo in a wild 
jfate near Upfala in Sweden, but efcaped from a garden. 
In England it was firft mentioned by Mr. Blackffone to 
grow in Mawde fields near Riilip common, Middlefex, 
and to h.ave been obfcrved theie by Mr. Alhby, of Break- 
fpears, above forty years. It has fince been lound be¬ 
tween Mortlake and Kew ; near Enfield; in a wood near 
Bromley in Kent; near Bury St. Fldmunds, and between 
Laxfield and Stirrup-lireet, in Suffolk ; Wefihoe near 
I.inton in Cambridgeihire ; near I.eicefter ; and in a mea¬ 
dow near Blymhill in Staftbrdl^ire. It flowers in April 
and May, and if the feafon be mild, at the beginning of 
the former inontli, or even the end of March. 
The common triiillary is named in German, kiebitzcy 
in Dutch, kievitjblocm-, in D inilh, vibeag ■, in Swedifli, vi- 
po-Ugg ; in French, la fntillaire mdeagrc, or Panacliee, le 
Damier \ in I talian, yn/tV/arfa, giglio variegato, visUagride, 
Jritillaria fcaccheggiata ■, in Spanilh, la fritillaria, el mdca- 
gro. Gerarde calls it turkey-hen or gvinea-heri Jlozuer, 
and checqnered dajf'odill. The curious and painful her- 
balifi of Paris, John Robin, fent him many plants for liis 
garden, where they profpered (as he informs its), as in 
their own ntitive country ; and were then greatly efieemed 
for the beautilyiug of our gardens, and the boionis of the 
beautiful. Some call it, fays Parkinfon, Narcijjus Capa, 
ronius, from the firft finder, Noel Caparon, an apothecary 
tJien dwelling at Orleans, but lliortly after murdered in 
i 
the maffacre of France. He leaves it to every one’s will, 
to call it in Englifh either fritillaria, as it is, called of 
moft, or checq'uered daffodill or guinea-hen jlowtr ; or, as he 
does, checqutrsd lilly. Lobel makes it a kind of tulip. 
The country people about Riflip call the flowers fnakes'- 
heads. 
Miiny varieties have been fent from Spain, Portugal, 
Italy, &c. Many others have been raifed from feed by 
the florifts, which differ in the (ize and colour of their 
flowers: thefe amount to a conliderable number in the 
catalogues of the Dutch florifts; but as new varieties 
m.ay be continually rroduced, and fince thefe flowers are 
no longer in fuch efteem as they were formerly, it would 
be to little purpofe to enumerate them. 
5. Fritillaria Cantonienfis, or Cocliinchina fritillaria : 
leaves three-nerved, tlie upper ones oppofite ; flowersiti 
pairs, axillary. Stem ammal, quite fimple, hard, (lender, 
round, upright, a foot and half high ; leaves fmooth, 
quite entire, rounded at the bafe, then conical, with a 
lo!ig point; flowers pendulous, the whole dufky purple, 
and without fmell ; corolla tliick, fix-cornered, almoft 
clofed; ftyle Irififi, with fimple fligmas. Cultivated 
about Canton in China. 
Propagation and Culture. The firft fpecies may be pro¬ 
pagated by feeds, or offsets from the root; the f.rmer 
method is too tedious for moft of the Englifh florifts, be- 
caufe the plants fo raifed are lix or feven years before 
they flower; but the Dutch and Flemilh gardeners, who 
have more patience, frequently raife them from feeds, and 
fo get fome new varieties, wliich reward their labour. 
The method of propagating tbele flowers from feeds be¬ 
ing nearly the fame as for the tulip, Tulipa, the reader is 
defiled to turn 10 tliat article, where th'ere are full di¬ 
rections for performing it. But the common method of 
propagating them here, is by oifsets fent out from the 
old roots, which will flower ftrong the fecond year after 
tliey are taken from the roots; in order to have plenty of 
the.fi?, the roots fhoiild not be tranfplanted oftener than 
every third year, by which time each root will have put 
out I'everal offsets, fome of which will be large enough 
to flower the following year, fo may be planted in the 
borders of the flower-garden, where tltey are to remain ; 
and the fmaller roots may be planted in a niirfery-bed, to 
grow a year or two, according to their fize; therefore 
they fhould be forced, and tlie fmalleft roots planted in a 
bed together, which Ihou'd remain there two years, and 
the larger by themfelves to (land one year, by which 
time they will have acquired ftrength enough to flower, 
fo may then be removed into the plealure garden. The 
time for taking up thefe roots is in the beginning of July, 
wlien their ftaiks will he decayed ; and they may be kept 
out of the ground two months, hut they (liould be laid 
lingle in a dry fliady room, but not in heaps, or in a nioilt 
place, which will caufe them to grow mouldy, and rot. 
Tlie offsets fhould be firft planted, for as tliefe are fmall, 
they will be apt to (brink if they are kept long out of the 
ground. As the ro'ots.are large, they mult not be planted 
too near other flo-vvers; and when they are planted in 
beds by themfelves, they Ihould not be nearer than a foot 
and a half in tlie rows, and two feet row from row; they 
fhould be planted fix inches deep at leaft, efpecially the 
ftrong root's: they delight in -a light foil, not too wet, 
nor very full of dung; tlierefore if any dung is laid upon 
the borders where they are planted, it fhould be buried 
pretty deep, fo as to be two or three inches below the roots. 
2, 3, 4. Thefe plants are propagated either by feeds, 
or offsets from the old roots; by the firft of which me-.' 
thods new varieties will be obtained, as alio a larger 
flock of roots in three years, than can be obtained in 
twenty or thirty years in the latter metliod : we (hall 
therefore firft treat of their propagation by (eeds. Flav- 
ing provided yourfelf with fome good feeds, faveddrom 
the faireft flowers, you muft procure fome fliallow pans 
or boxes, which muft have holes in their bottoms to 
let out the moifture : thefe you fliould fill with light 
frefli 
