The true parentage of this plant is uncertain. I grew it from seed and planted the entire potful, as a clump, into an outside trough. After a few years it was the sole survivor in that part of the trough and the only nearby label suggested Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica. Having dug it out and potted it for the showbench I initially exhibited it as Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica hybrid but was not entirely convinced of any F. crassifolia kurdica influence. Apart from glaring morphological differences, this plant is a prolific 'rice maker' whilst (in my experience at least) Fritillaria crassifolia produces very little (if any) rice. I currently favour the notion that F. crassifolia kurdica may indeed be the seed parent and that Fritillaria whittallii may be the pollen parent. Both the flowers and the leaves of 'Lentune Slate' are intermediate between these two putative parents and in addition, F. whittallii is a 'rice maker' and so could have contributed this attribute to its offspring.

Fritillaria 'Lentune Slate' has won lots of red stickers at AGS shows during the last ten years (under a variety of labels until I finally gave it a cultivar name) and more recently a few trophies. It was given an 'Award of Merit' by the RHS Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee in March 2022.

The 'Slate' element in the name is reference to the slate coloured 'bloom' on the flowers.

Examples of the two parent species

It should be noted that neither of the following images are of the actual parents of my plant