Flora of North America species comparison

Of conservation concern.

Fritillaria gentneri is a restricted endemic closely allied with F. recurva and F. affinis, with which it can be confused. Some evidence suggests that it may represent a hybrid between those two species. More study is needed to determine whether it should remain recognized as a distinct species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Fritillaria affinis has one of the broadest geographical distributions of all the North American species of the genus. It is also highly variable, which has resulted in the naming of several supposedly distinct species as well as some infraspecific taxa, all but one of which are in fact only poorly differentiated, and all of which are treated here as synonyms. Among the latter, F. lanceolata var. tristulis may actually merit formal recognition as a variety, but the new combination under F. affinis remains to be made. This entity is restricted to coastal grassland in Marin County, California, and has a perianth that is scarcely if at all mottled, and more than 50 small bulb scales.

Fritillaria affinis has long been known by the name F. lanceolata, which is illegitimate because when Pursh described it, he cited Lilium camschatcense (= F. camschatcensis) as a synonym but did not adopt that epithet. Actually, his synonymic reference was based on a misidentification, even though he stated that an illustration of L. camschatcense from a specimen in Pallas’ herbarium was “an excellent figure” of his F. lanceolata.

Fritillaria affinis has been known to hybridize with F. recurva.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)