Fritillaria 'Lentune Freckle'

F. (aurea x pinardii) x aurea

The result of my deliberate backcrossing of Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with Fritillaria aurea. Resulting seed was sown in September 2007 and this clone was singled out in 2014.

The seed parent was sourced from Kath Dryden in 2005 and whilst Kath's catalogue provided no clue as to provenance my plant matches material collected by Martyn Rix under the number Rix1602. The pollen parent was a longstanding and widely distributed clone of F. aurea. Both F. aurea and F. pinardii are native to Turkey and hybrid populations are known to exist in the wild.

This plant is therefore 75% F. aurea and 25% F. pinardii.

Seed 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. aurea)
This is a very typical clone of F. aurea and one that I've had for many years. I have no idea of its background but it has clearly persisted in cultivation for several growers.