Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) x carica
An entire pot of seedlings from my deliberate cross made in 2014 and only ever moved en masse. F. aurea x pinardii, sourced from Kath Dryden over 20 years ago, was pollinated using a plant of F. carica I grew from seed collected by a friend on Baba Dag in Turkey.
They have a very strong carica look and so very plausible. The cluster shows a degree of variation but not as much as I would expect given the seed parent. They more resemble beefed-up F. carica.
The fact that this cross has proved so viable is perhaps not too surprising since all three species are native to Turkey.
Sourced from Kath Dryden around the turn of the millennium. Kath's catalogue provided no information about provenance. The literature contains various references to this hybrid (both natural and man-made).
The Frit Group ‘Journal’ No13 Pg21 (Autumn 2003) refers to a wild hybrid F. aurea x pinardii collected by Martyn Rix under the number Rix1603.
The Roger Phillips & Martyn Rix book 'Bulbs' contains photos of Rix1601 & Rix1602 (found in central Turkey). The example of Rix1602 in this book looks like my plant. The text refers to hybrids made between Rix1602 and F. aurea.
Rod Johnson had seedlings of F aurea x fleischeri (F. fleischeri is a synonym of F. pinardii). The source of Rod’s seed is unknown.
The Kevin Pratt book has a picture of this hybrid but it is much closer to pinardii than my own plant.
Bob & Rannveig Wallis had a plant of Rix1602 at Chesterfield 2010 but this did not match my own plant (alas I have no photo!)
Ian Young has a picture on his bulb log that looks much closer to mine. It is his own raising from seed received from Gothenburg and is probably unlikely to be Kath's source of material. See https://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2006/050406/log.html
I have a picture of Rix1601 in the RBGE exhibit at Hexham 2013 – this differs significantly from my own plant and indeed tallies with the photo of Rix1601 in the 'Bulbs' book.
In conclusion: I think my plant is Rix1602 but cannot be certain.
