Hailing from Northern Turkey, Fritillaria michaelovskyi is a bulbous perennial with delightful, nodding, dark purple-brown flowers with distinctive yellow tipped tepals. There is a diamond pattern to the flowers, though apparent only when looking inside these little bells, with the light shining through. In matters of scale, the tepals are between 20-30mm long, on stems 6-24cm long (mine are midway)
Fritillary, from the Latin fritillus, a dice box, referring to the shape of the capsules or the chequered pattern on the flowers of many species, reminiscent of the traditional decoration of a dice box. Of the liliaceae family and including some 100 species of perennial herb.
No discernible fragrance to my little selection, though apparently the scent of most fritillaries is unpleasant. I’ve several pots of F. imperialis coming up now but not the cultivar ‘Inodora’ which is almost as the name suggests.
The Teddington Gardener 