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Fritillaria glauca

Siskiyou fritillary

fritillary

Habit Herbs perennial; from bulbs with fleshy scales, usually with many small rice-like scales orbulblets.
Stems

5–20 cm.

solitary; erect (0 in nonflowering plants).

Leaves

1–4(6), alternate, 3–11 cm long;

blades lance-ovate, sickleshaped, strongly glaucous.

1 in immature plants to many in flowering plants;

basal and cauline, alternate, subopposite or whorled, sessile;

blades linear to more or less ovate.

Inflorescences

racemes;

bracts large and leaf-like.

Flowers

cupshaped;

perianth segments oblanceolate to oblong, 1.5–2(2.5) cm long, yellow with purple mottling to purple with yellow mottling;

apex not recurved;

nectaries broad-lanceolate, 25-33% perianth segment length;

style branched for 50% its length.

1–many, nodding, 3-merous; bell- to cup-shaped;

perianth in 6 parts; in 2 whorls;

apex recurved or not;

stamens 6, included, attached at base;

anthers attached near middle;

ovary superior;

style 1; entire or branched.

Fruits

capsules winged.

capsules; roundish, 6-angled or -winged, loculicidally dehiscent.

Seeds

many; flat, light brown to dark brown.

2n

=24.

Fritillaria glauca

Fritillaria

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Serpentine and non-serpentine gravelly slopes. Flowering Mar–Jun. 400–2100m. Casc, Sisk. CA. Native.

Fritillaria glauca is our only species that grows in serpentine soils. This species also grows in non-serpentine habitats. This begs the question: Was F. glauca historically a serpentine or non-serpentine endemic? The sickle-shaped and strongly glaucous leaves of F. glauca are distinct among Oregon fritillaries.

Temperate Northern Hemisphere. Approximately 100 species; 6 species treated in Flora.

Within many populations of Fritillaria, small, single-leaved plants will be seen in great abundance, greatly outnumbering larger (and usually flowering) plants. Most often, these plants are the result of asexual reproduction by rice-like scales/bulblets that have migrated from their parental plants. Fritillaria eastwoodiae, in Oregon, is known only from recent collections (2000, 2007) at a single locality, in Jackson County. To date, this is the northernmost collection of the species. It is yet unclear whether this species is a recent introduction or native to our state. More study is needed. This species is distinguished from all other Oregon fritillary taxa by the combination of its small (less than 2 cm), unmottled, yellow to orange, strongly recurved perianths. Another northernmost range extension (represented by two collections from nearby localities in Josephine County) is F. purdyi. Its white perianth is unique among fritillary species in Oregon. In a similar vein, F. camschatcensis has been collected twice from only one location in Oregon, in Lincoln County. This represents the southernmost collection of this species. Fritillaria camschatcensis is very similar to F. affinis, however, the former has prominent nectaries.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 302
Stephen Meyers
Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 300
Stephen Meyers
Sibling taxa
F. affinis, F. atropurpurea, F. camschatcensis, F. eastwoodiae, F. gentneri, F. pudica, F. purdyi, F. recurva
Subordinate taxa
F. affinis, F. atropurpurea, F. camschatcensis, F. eastwoodiae, F. gentneri, F. glauca, F. pudica, F. purdyi, F. recurva
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