Description
Dusky, grey leaves borne along a stout stem topped with a thick textured brown-purple flower with a dusting of grape-like bloom and a central green stripe (the fascia) on each petal. The style is slender and pale green.
A rare native of Bulgaria, lost to cultivation for many years then rediscovered in Bulgaria and (newly) Turkey-in-Europe in the 1970s, though it remains under severe pressure from agriculture . A strangely attractive plant which lacks the unpleasant seminal smell found in many Fritillaria, instead being faintly, but sweetly perfumed..
