Fritillaria 'Lentune Blaze'
F. (aurea x pinardii) x crassifolia
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Probable wasp intervention!
The pollen parent of 'Blaze' was intended to be F. pinardii but 'Blaze' (the only survivor from a 2013 sowing ever to flower) doesn't look 75% pinardii, as well as having a very divided style. The likelihood is that my efforts were thwarted by a wasp carrying pollen from elsewhere in my Frit collection.
The sowing provided a number of bulbs but in 2018 I kept just a single bulb. This was because there was a dominant bulb. With hindsight this was a mistake - the smaller bulbs should have been kept since they may well have been the result of F. pinardii pollen as I had intended!
A further diagnostic can be the extent to which frits produce 'rice' (small offsets, similar in appearance to rice grains). 'Blaze' is not really a rice-maker!
My current belief is that the pollen parent of 'Blaze' is Fritillaria crassifolia. This is would explain the reluctance of 'Blaze' to produce rice since, in my experience, crassifolia is a very reluctant rice-maker.
I now have seedlings from 'Blaze' (sown 2018, 2020, 2021 & 2022) - as yet unflowered. So 'Blaze' is clearly fertile despite its complex hybrid heritage.
Pollen parent(F. aurea x pinardii)
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.
Pollen parent(F. crassifolia subsp. crassifolia)
Grown from seed obtained from the Scottish Rock Garden Club seed exchange in 2008.
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