Fritillaria

Fritillaria meleagris.

We ring, we ring, "Here comes dear Spring.
Awake ye nymphs and fays,
Your webs and paints and brushes swing‚
Come, Larks, strike up your lays.

       How many of you children know the Fritillaria or Checkered Lily? It is sometimes called the Mission Bells and sometimes the Rice Root. All its names fit it well.
       It looks quite different from the bright colored flowers we have been studying. Perhaps you wonder if so dull a dress will attract insects. Just kneel down by a Fritillaria for a few minutes. See, she has many visitors. When you study her, it is easy to tell why.
       After becoming acquainted with Blue-Eyed Grass, you know that, in some flowers, the calyx and the corolla look alike. This is true in Fritillaria. You see a beautifully shaped bell. It has six parts, all colored alike. You will find that three are joined to the stem a little farther out than the others. These are the sepals.
       Both sepals and petals are woven of a thick material, quite different from Poppy's thin satin. Fritillaria seems to use this thick material so that she can drape each part into graceful curves. She just dotes on curves. She does not even hang her leaves in straight lines.
       As for her sepals and petals., she compounds her curves in them. Each part is arched along its long line. It curves its sides toward the center. Its edges are wavy all around. You see Fritillaria is an artist when it comes to lines.
       She does not seem to care for color. She gives her head a toss, and exclaims, ''No copying of Sun and Sky for me! The colors of Mother Earth and her soft Grass are good enough for my gown.''
       But really, she does take care in arranging her browns and greens. She mixes them together in checks and in spots. Sometimes, she adds purple to her dye. Sometimes, she bleaches them out to palest green. I really believe, Mrs. Fritillaria, that you spend as much strength in getting your dress perfect, as Baby-Blue-Eyes does in copying the Sky and Clouds, or Poppy in copying the glorious Sun.
       Down at the bottom of the bell, Fritillaria puts an oblong shaped dish of sweets. It lies open for any one to see. Its fragrance floats far on the sunny air. You may be sure that Mrs. Ant is not slow to accept the kind invitation the Breezes carry to her.
       Inside the bell are the six stamens, each with an oblong anther on top. The pistil rises inside their ring. Its stigma is divided into three parts, each of which curves gracefully outward.
       Even if you happen on Fritillaria when she has not visitors, you know how they help her. As they feed at the oblong honey dish, they stumble against the stamens. The oblong anthers open, and down falls the pollen.
       When the visitors go into the next Fritillaria, they carry this pollen with them. It is dusted off on to the stigma and is sent down to make the ovules into seeds.
       Fritillaria makes her seed-case along beautiful lines. She curves it in and wings it out. She packs in it six rows of thin flat seeds. Watch it as it grows old. See how its material changes. See how it gets its seeds scattered.
       When you are older, you can study the different kinds of leaves Fritillaria has. You can tell the age of this plant by its leaves. Some people, you know, can tell a horse's age by its teeth. Well, one who has studied the Fritillaria can tell by looking at the leaves, just how long ago it was that that plant was a tiny seed. There are many things you can learn about plants as you grow older. You cannot learn everything the first year you study them.
       Now, you need only notice that there are different kinds of leaves on the same flower stalk. Notice that they are fixed differently on the stem. See what a deep green the stem is and how it wears a soft powder over its color.
       When you hear Fritillaria called ''Rice Root'' you know  she must be making something odd underground. She is. If you dig up a root, you will find many little bulbs around it, shining white like rice. Be careful not to hurt any of them. They will all grow into beautiful plants if left unharmed. You can transplant some roots and start a Fritillaria bed of your own in a shady spot.
       The Spanish Californian children called Fritillaria ''Mission Bells.'' You can easily see why. Her brown blossoms are as beautiful as the bronze bells that were brought from Spain and hung in the Mission's belfry. They were rung to call people to church or on news of gladness or on news of sadness. The ringing of the Mission Bells always meant that people would come together to think about the same thing. 
       There is old flower lore of why the Fritillaria is dark and why she has such great big drops of syrup in her cup:

       "Flower lore tells that before Christ was crucified, the Fritillaria was pure white and held her flowers open up to the sky. While Christ was hanging on the Cross, all the flowers hung their heads and wept. All but Fritillaria. She stood proud and straight. When Christ died, a darkness passed over the earth. Then, Fritillaria suddenly became sorry for her pride. She hung down her bells. She changed her white dress to dark mourning. She shed tears of sorrow. She has not stopped being sorry yet. You can see for yourself the down-turned bells, the dark dress, and the ever-present tears.''

       This story teaches us some things we should learn. We must never be too proud to show sorrow for any one's sufferings. Then, we will never have to shed tears because we had been proud.

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