Fritillaria imperialis and persica help
Jane McGary (Fri, 06 Jun 2014 16:23:13 PDT)

Ian Young certainly knows more about bulbs than I do, but if I happen
to lift one of my fritillarias while it is in growth, there is a bulb
of the usual size present. Laurence Hill's photos of entire
fritillaria plants, in flower, also show the bulbs. I wonder if this
characteristic varies among the different subgenera? For instance,
subgenus Liliorrhiza (the western American species) may add new
scales attached loosely to the basal plate (e.g., Fritillaria biflora
and F. striata) or may maintain a slowly enlarging disc-shaped bulb
with numerous loosely attached "rice grain" offsets (the F. affinis
group). In both cases the bulb is present at any time in the growth
cycle. In some other subgenera, I think the bulb may diminish in size
during flowering, but it doesn't disappear. Nor do fritillarias
produce "dropper" bulbs at the base of the stem as tulips do,
although some of the American species such as F. striata will "drop"
their hooked scales down early in the plant's life.

Perhaps the disconnect between our observations has to do with the
distinction between "layers" (as on a Narcissus or Allium) and
"scales," as on a Fritillaria or Lilium? It is true that Fritillaria
bulbs do not have completely enveloping layers like an onion or many
of the amaryllids.

I can't defend my position with photos at the moment since all the
frits are dormant or nearly so, but I can measure some bulbs this
summer and, if I have enough of the species, I'm willing to lift them
in flower and see how different the bulb size is, if at all.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA