Plate 9541 - Fritillaria liliacea

Curtis's Botanical Magazine - Plate 9541 Fritillaria liliacea Family: Liliaceae • Native Region: California • Publication Date: January 1st, 1934 Distribution: -Western North America; California from • Tab Author: W. B. TURRILL Botanical Description Have been described as species since the time of Lindley. Unfortunately the material and data at present available are insufficient to determine their taxonomic value. Thus F. agrestis Greene (in Erythraea, III. 67: 1895), is supposed to be characterized by its disagreeable odour, its stouter taller growth (12 to 20 inches), and its rhombic-lanceolate tepals variously described as greenish-white, yellowish-green, and creamy-white, with a vein or band of green or green and purple. F. Purdyi Eastwood in Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, XXIX. 75 (1902), is said to have the tepals mottled with purple in lines and spots. It is evident that these "species require careful field investigation, and it may well be that they are variations within one polymorphic species. Her- barium material is, by itself, insufficient to decide questions of relationship in such a group partly because several characters are lost or distorted on drying, including perianth shape and tepal colour. The data at present available, however, certainly indicate that at least some of the charac- ters used by different authors to separate so-called species in this group are either inconsistent or occur in various com- binations. This seems true for odour, flower colour (to a certain extent), and stem height. Douglas collected the type material of F. liliacea, probably from the vicinity of San Francisco. The species appears to be endemic to California, where it occurs on open grassy slopes and hilltops, usually on outcrops of basalt in the Upper Sonoran Zone, from Sonoma County to Santa Clara County. Reduction to F. liliacea of some other described species may eventually be justified and would then somewhat enlarge the range. Synonyms Liliorhiza lanceolata Kellogg in Proc. Calif. Acad. II. 46 About This Print Original black and white uncolored botanical print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (established 1787). This 9000s series print is from unissued publisher stock, never hand-colored, representing the authentic plate as it appeared in the magazine. Edited by Sir Arthur William Hill for The Royal Horticultural Society, London.