''Fritillaria gentneri'', or Gentner's fritillary, is a rare species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae, that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to southwest

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and adjacent

Siskiyou County, California Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion ...

, USA. Its habitat is dry, open woodlands and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

at , where it blooms from March through July. However, most populations have generally finished blooming by the end of May. As with many plants, the lower elevations bloom earliest with the bloom period moving up following elevation.

Discovery

It was discovered by 18-year-old Laura Gentner in 1942 in rural

Jackson County, Oregon Jackson County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 223,259. The county seat is Medford, Oregon, Medford. The county Oregon Geographic Names, ...

. Dr. Helen M. Gilkey, curator of the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

at the

Oregon State College Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, published it as a new species with Gentner as its namesake. In her 1951 paper in '' Madroño'' in she distinguished it from the similar '' Fritillaria recurva'': "As brilliant in color as ''F. recurva'', the blossom of this new form is consistently of a different shade of red; its flowering period begins two weeks later; the plant is typically more robust..."

Description

Gentner's fritillary grows tall, bears nodding reddish flowers checkered with yellow,

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s with reflexed tips, and

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

stems with

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral d ...

of leaves. It can be distinguished from '' Fritillaria recurva'' by its spreading

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

, longer, more conspicuous glands, and the generally unrecurved tips of its tepals. There has been disagreement over the species status of this plant.Robinett, Georgie. 2005. Gentner's fritillary: The discovery of a rare species. ''Kalmiopsis: Journal of the Native Plant Society of Oregon''. 12: 37-43 There is also some evidence that it may be a hybrid between ''

Fritillaria affinis ''Fritillaria affinis'', the chocolate lily, is a highly variable species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae native to western North America. Description It grows from a bulb, which resembles a small mass of rice grains. The ste ...

'' and ''Fritillaria recurva''. For now, it is listed as a species in the Flora of North America, and the Manual of Higher Plants of Oregon.Flora of North America v 26 p 169
/ref>

Endangered species

It was listed as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999. The city of

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

has set aside over of habitat for Gentner's fritillary and hosts a festival dedicated to the flower every April. The city maintains a system of hiking trails allowing visitors to enjoy the wildflowers.Mullens L., and Showalter, R. 2007. ''Rare Plants of Southwest Oregon''. BLM, USFS 134-135 There are 30 known populations of the plant, 28 in Oregon and 2 over the border in California. The populations are very small, with some containing just a few individuals. There are no more than 1200 plants in total.''Fritillaria gentneri''.

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

Recovery plan

The Recovery Plan for ''Fritillaria gentneri'' (Gentners fritillary) was finalized on July 21, 2003. The Recovery Plan established four recovery units across the range of the fritillary. These four units were called Units 1 (Jacksonville), 2 (Grants Pass), 3 (Butte Falls), and 4 (Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument). The recovery plan included the following conditions to downlist and delists the fritillary (USFWS 2003): 1. Each of the four established recovery units should include 750 flowering plants in order to downlist the species and 1,000 flowering plants to delist the species. 2. ''Fritillaria'' management areas should be established on public lands or private land subject to a permanent conservation easement. 3. Each recovery unit should maintain 2 ''Fritillaria'' management areas with a minimum of 100 flowering plants each within a 0.8 kilometer distance from each other. 4. Flowering individuals will be distributed over a minimum of 50,000 square meters (5 hectares or 12.4 acres) per recovery unit to avoid population vulnerability. 5. A site-specific management and monitoring plan be developed approved and implemented for each ''Fritillaria'' management area to assure recovery of the species. 6. Areas could be subject to fencing, grazing management, or other measure as identified through monitoring of threats in each population. 7. A post delisting monitoring plan must be in place at time of delisting.''Fritillaria gentneri''.

USFWS The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

. US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2003. Recovery Plan for ''Fritillaria gentneri'' (Gentner's fritillary). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. viii + 89 pp.

References

External links

Calflora: Fritillaria gentneri'' (Gentner's fritillary)Jepson ManualNpsoregon.org: Species ProfileJacksonville Woodlands AssociationRecovery plan
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5504780 gentneri Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of the Cascade Range Plants described in 1951