Fritillary

Fritillary (from the Latin fritillus, a dicebox) is the English name of Fritillaria Meleayris, a somewhat local liliaceous plant, growing in water-meadows, with pendulous bell-shaped flowers, which, though sometimes white, are generally of a dull red chequered very regularly in two shades of that colour. The flower is also popularly known as "snakes'-head" or "Turk's-cap." Another species of the same genus is the Crown-Imperial (q.v.).