Fritillaria kotschyana

Fritillaria kotschyana Mr. Grey whose early three volume work on Hardy Bulbs I quote a lot, has this as Fritillaria latifolia var. kotschyana and says this " Found in Northern Persia on Mount Elbuz and in the mountains above Asterabad, The leaves are narrower, the upper leaves linear, neither opposite nor ternate; The flowers vinous purple, more distinctly tessalated." I like to look for some of the early descriptions, since botanist seem to be always jostling plants around, and so many genes have been mixed over the years from outcrossing, I feel like the early descriptions sometime capture the essence of a species better...........if that makes sense, I also love the location descriptions from so long ago. Does this species no longer grow in Persia?

Fritillaria kotschyana

One of the easy early ones that increases well and fortunately given how wet this year has been isn't as prone to botrytis as some of the others. I have been doing a fixed copper spray on sporadic patches of the grey stuff rearing it's early head now and then. I added a fan and opened the greenhouse south end wall for some better ventilation as this torrential rain doesn't seem to want to end any time soon.

Rainy, wet and a flood warning on for the local creeks today.

Cheers,
Mark