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Fritillaria
stribrnyi
The first
Flora of Bulgaria was published by the
Czech Josef Velenovský in 1891. In the course of his work on
the Bulgarian
flora he made six visits to Bulgaria between 1884 and 1887 and it was
on his third visit in
1889 he meet Václav Střibrný, a fellow Czech
working in Bulgaria. Střibrný became an assiduously
collector for Velenovský and it was on one of
Střibrný collecting trips
that he discovered this new Fritillaria
growing below thorn-bushes, near Nova Mahala, in 1892. The following
year, on his
forth collecting trip to Bulgaria, Velenovský collected
further specimens in
fruit and later that year described Střibrný new species as Fritillaria stribrnyi.
Morphologically it is close to F.
bithynica;
both have narrow-campanulate flowers with a
slender glabrous
style and winged capsules. However, F.
stribrnyi
is taller and with more leaves and varying degrees
of purple
colouring to the flowers. In 1970 Professor Baytop discovered F.
stribrnyi
in European Turkey so
extending its range closer to the northern limit of F.
bithynica.
Most Fritillaria
have an unpleasant scent but F.
stribrnyi
has a sweet fragrance and is probably pollinated by small bees.
Cultivation: Not difficult in a bulb frame
or raised bed,
kept moist throughout the year.
Fritillaria stribrnyi Velen. in Sitzungsber.
Königl. Böhm.
Ges. Wiss., Math.-Naturwiss. Cl. 37: 61 (1893).
Bulb to 2 cm diam., sometimes with a few
bulblets which form
on the upper half of the outside of the scales. Stem 10-30(-80) cm.
Leaves
(7-)10-14, green, not glaucous; lowest oblong-lanceolate to linear,
4-10 x
0.5-2 cm, obtuse, alternate. Flowers 1-3; perianth narrowly
campanulate,
outside purple or glaucous green edged purple; inside yellowish edged
purple,
not tessellated. Outer segments oblong-lanceolate, acute, 20-28 x 4-6
mm, inner
obovate-cuneate or obtuse, 7-10 mm broad. Nectaries 2 x 1 mm, at base
of
perianth. Filaments 7-9 mm, slender, densely papillose. Style 7-12 mm,
very
slender, straight sided, smooth. Capsule broadly 6-winged, wings
irregularly
toothed.
Chromosome number 2n = 24 (Başak
1991).
Flower: April-May. Habitat: Woods, scrub
& grassy
places, 0-1000 m. SE. Bulgaria and European Turkey.
Type:
[Bulgaria] in dumosis regionis inferioris calidae ad Nova Mahala
(distr.
Philippop.), 1892, Střibrný (holo. PRC).
Conservation
Status: Bulgaria - Critically Endangered (CR)
REFERENCES
Başak, N. 1991. The genus Fritillaria (Liliaceae) in European Turkey. Botanika Chonika 10:
841-844.
Hayek, A. 1933. Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Balcanicae p.67.
Petrova, A. & Vladimirov, V. (eds). 2009. Red List of Bulgarian vascular
plants. Phytol. Balcan, 15(1): 63-94.
Rix, M. 1979. Notes on Fritillaria
(Liliaceae) in the Eastern Mediterranean region: IV. Kew Bulletin 33:587-589,
fig. 1. (Available from www.jstore.org)
Turrill WB, Sealy JR. 1980. Hooker’s Icones Plantarum 39(1-2): 173-174, t.3835.
Velenovský, J. 1893. Sitzungsber. Königl. Böhm. Ges. Wiss., Math.-Naturwiss.
37: 61.
Velenovský, J. 1898. Flora Bulgarica, Supplementum I: 270.
Laurence
Hill ©2010
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