Flora-Fauna

Fritillaria crassifolia Boiss. & A.Huet

(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 2, 4: 103 (1859); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. LXXII nº 5 a-b; 1966, as Fritillaria crassifolia Boiss. & Huet, including var. hermonis (Fenzl) Boiss.) (Plants of the World Online)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial bulbous geophyte; bulb somewhat thick and bulbilliferous; stem short, rather thick, 10–25 cm tall.

• Leaves : Leaves 5–6, sometimes more, borne above mid-stem, alternate; lower leaves broadly oblong, upper leaves narrowly linear-lanceolate; all leaves subacute to acute.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers 1 or 2, rarely up to 6, campanulate and more or less nodding; perianth externally red-striped, internally greenish-yellow with red maculation; tepals oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, obtuse, with a small nectary pit; filaments slightly hirsute, dilated at the base, about twice as long as the anther; style exceeding the stamens, trifid in the upper third.

• Fruit : Capsule ovate-globose.

• Phenology : Flowers from April to June, depending on altitude.

• Habitat & elevation : Rocky slopes.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from ‘Aïn Dara, the Cedars of Ma‘asser, the Col de Zahlé, Jabal Kneissé, Jabal Zahrour, Dahr-el-Baidar, Ehden, the Cedars, Qornet es-Saouda, the Anti-Lebanon above Baalbeck, and Hermon.

• Native range : Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Türkiye.

• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished in Mouterde’s key from the taller one- to few-flowered Fritillaria species by its short, rather thick stem, broadly oblong lower leaves, 1 or 2, rarely up to 6, campanulate flowers, and style divided in the upper third. Mouterde considered var. hermonis only weakly distinct, noting that plants from Hermon do not have clearly darker or smaller flowers than elsewhere, and that the species varies considerably in stature, leaf width, perianth posture and tepal width.