Plant of the Day

July 07, 2026

FRITILLARY

The origin of the Fritillaria, or Crown Imperial, is given by Rapin in the following lines:—

“Then her gay gilded front th’ Imperial Crown
Erects aloft, and with a scornful frown
O’erlooks the subject plants, while humbly they
Wait round, and homage to her highness pay;
High on the summit of her stem arise
Leaves in a verdant tuft of largest size;
Below this tuft the gilded blossoms bent,
Like golden cups reversed, are downwards sent;
But in one view collected they compose
A crown-like form, from whence her name arose.
No flower aspires in pomp and state more high,
Nor, could her odour with her beauty vie,
Would lay a juster claim to majesty.
A Queen she was whom ill report belied,
And a rash husband’s jealousy destroyed;
Driv’n from his bed and court the fields she ranged,
Till spent with grief was to a blossom changed,
Yet only changed as to her human frame:
She kept th’ Imperial beauty and the name;
But the report destroyed her former sweets:
Scandal, though false, the fair thus rudely treats,
And always the most fair with most injustice meets.”

This flower is a native of Persia, and was for some time known as Lilium Persicum. According to Madame de Genlis, it derived its majestic name of Crown Imperial from the celebrated Guirlande de Julie. The Duke de Montausier, on New Year’s Day, 1634, presented his bride, Julie de Rambouillet, with a magnificent album, on the vellum leaves of which were painted a series of flowers, with appropriate verses. The principal poem was by Chapelain, who chose this Persian Lily as his theme, and, knowing the bride to be a great admirer of Gustavus Adolphus, represented in his verses that the flower sprang from the life-blood of the Swedish King when he fell mortally wounded on the field of Lützen; adding that had this hero gained the imperial crown, he would have offered it with his hand to Julie, but as the Fates had metamorphosed him into this flower, it was presented to her under the name of La Couronne Impériale. In later days the flower received the name of Fritillaria (from Fritillus, a dice box, the usual companion of the chequer-board), because its blossoms are chequered with purple and white or yellow.