Fritillaria flowering
diana chapman (Mon, 15 Sep 2003 08:11:02 PDT)

Hi Dirk:

F. purdyi grows at some considerable distance from the plants that are
usually called F. biflora var. roderickii. F. purdyi grows at some
altitude, the lowest altitude populations I have ever seen being around
1200-1500' in the inner Coast Ranges of California. They generally grow on
rocky serpentine ridges. F. biflora var. roderickii grows in a narrow
coastal distribution, never at altitude and very far from any populations of
F. purdyi. I can't imagine how this allegation of hybridization between two
species that grow so far apart and in such different conditions came about.
There are two populations (actually, three but I've never seen the third) of
the variant on F. biflora. One grows in only one location in an old
cemetery and grows to as tall as eighteen inches, the other is on coastal
bluffs in grassland and grows only about four to six inches tall. There are
some differences between the two in flower color also. It has been proposed
that the tall variant be called F. biflora var. grayana and the short one F.
biflora var. roderickii, which would help a great deal with the confusion.

Diana

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dirk Wallace" <dirkwallace@bigpond.com>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 3:47 AM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Re: Fritillaria flowering

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