Fritillaria atropurpurea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fritillaria atropurpurea | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Fritillaria atropurpurea Nutt. |
||||||||||||||
| Synonyms | ||||||||||||||
|
Fritillaria adamantina |
Fritillaria atropurpurea is a species of fritillary known by several common names, including spotted fritillary, purple fritillary, spotted mountainbells, and spotted missionbells. This wildflower is native to the western United States, where it is often found beneath trees in moldy leaf litter. This species has the widest distribution of the fritillaries, growing from California to the Dakotas. The stems may reach anywhere from 10 to 60 centimeters in height and bear narrow, pointed leaves at nodes along the stem. The nodding flower has splayed-open tepals each one or two centimeters long which are yellowish or cream-colored with heavy dark purple-brown mottling. The center of the flower has a central style surrounded by stamens with very large yellow anthers. This species is similar to Fritillaria pinetorum, but it has nodding flowers compared with the latter's erect blooms.
