''Fritillaria imperialis'', the crown imperial, imperial fritillary or Kaiser's crown, is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae, native to a wide stretch from the Anatolian plateau of Turkey, Iraq and Iran (i.e.

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languag ...

) to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern India and the Himalayan foothills. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental and reportedly naturalized in Austria, Sicily, and Washington State, USA.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The common names and also the epithet ''"imperialis"'', literally "of the emperor", refer to the large circle of golden flowers, reminiscent of an emperor's crown.

Description

''Fritillaria imperialis'' grows to about in height, and bears lance-shaped, glossy leaves at intervals along the stem. It bears a prominent whorl of downward facing flowers at the top of the stem, topped by a 'crown' of small leaves, hence the name. While the wild form is usually orange-red, various colours are found in cultivation, ranging from nearly a true scarlet through oranges to yellow. The pendulous flowers make a bold statement in the late spring garden; in the northern hemisphere, flowering takes place in late spring, accompanied by a distinctly foxy odour that repels mice, moles and other small animals. Owing to its large size, ''F. imperialis'' is pollinated by the Eurasian blue tit, which makes it a rare example of

ornithophily Ornithophily or bird pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by birds. This sometimes (but not always) coevolutionary association is derived from insect pollination (entomophily) and is particularly well developed in some parts of the w ...

at northern latitudes.

Cultivation

The species and the yellow-flowered 'Maximea Lutea' have both gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. Other cultivars in shades of red, yellow and orange, are available. Like other members of the lily family, ''F. imperialis'' is susceptible to depredation by the scarlet lily beetle ('' Lilioceris lilii'').

Taxonomy

A few names have been coined for taxa once considered as belonging to ''Fritillaria imperialis'' but now regarded as distinct species: * ''Fritillaria imperialis'' var. ''chitralensis'', now called '' Fritillaria chitralensis'' * ''Fritillaria imperialis'' var. ''eduardii'', now called '' Fritillaria eduardii'' * ''Fritillaria imperialis'' var. ''inodora'', now called '' Fritillaria eduardii'' var. ''inodora'' * ''Fritillaria imperialis'' var. ''inodora-purpurea'', now called '' Fritillaria eduardii'' var. ''eduardii''

Role in the culture of Iran

The flower has a long and deep connection with the history, religion, mythology and folklore of its native Iran and, as a result, has acquired a wealth of evocative vernacular names, often referencing the pendent form of the blossoms and the tear-like nectar drops borne by the six nectaries. In Iranian folklore the nodding flowers are described (in comparison with the upright flowers of tulips) as being 'upside-down', this curious posture being attributed to the plant's bowing its (originally upright) 'head' in sorrow upon the death of a mythological or religious personage. Likewise, the glistening drops of nectar at the base of each flower are described as the

tears Tears are a clear liquid secreted by the lacrimal glands (tear gland) found in the eyes of all land mammals. Tears are made up of water, electrolytes, proteins, lipids, and mucins that form layers on the surface of eyes. The different types of ...

which the plant weeps in mourning the departed. Depictions of the distinctive inflorescences may be seen on the sculpted capitals of

Sassanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

columns, as at

Taq-e Bostan Taq-e Bostan ( fa, طاق بستان, ) is a site with a series of large rock reliefs from the era of the Sassanid Empire of Persia (Iran), carved around the 4th century CE. This example of Persian Sassanid art is located 5 km from the ...

. ''F. imperialis'' is linked to the legend of the tragic death of

Siyâvash Siyâvash ( fa, سیاوش, via Middle Persian Siyâwaxš, from Avestan Syâvaršan) or Siyâvoš or Siavash ( fa, سياووش), is a major figure in Ferdowsi's epic, the ''Shahnameh''. He was a legendary Iranian prince from the earliest days o ...

, (a semi-divine hero in

Ferdowsi , image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi , birth_date = 940 , birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire , death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old) , d ...

's prodigious national epic

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 5 ...

) - whence the common name ''Ashk-e Sivash'' ('Tear of Siyâvash').https://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/pdf/usefulPlantsOfIranIraq.pdf Retrieved at 00.08 on 17/6/21

Gallery

File:Corona imperial (Fritillaria imperialis), Jardín Botánico, Múnich, Alemania 2012-04-21, DD 01.JPG, Fritillaria imperialis in botanic garden, Germany File:Red Flower 777.jpg, 'Rubra Maxima' File:Fritillaria imperialis1.JPG, Kurdistan, Iran File:Fritillaria imperialis2.JPG, Kurdistan, Iran File:Fritillaria imperialis3.JPG, Kurdistan, Iran File:Fritillaria imperialis (Kaiserkrone).JPG, View of the whole plant File:Crown imperial with tulips at Keukenhof Tulip Garden.jpg,

Keukenhof Keukenhof (English: "Kitchen garden"; ), also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in the municipality of Lisse, in the Netherlands. According to the official website, Keukenhof Park covers an are ...

, Lisse, Netherlands File:2008-04-23 Berlin Schlosspark Charlottenburg Fritillaria imperialis.jpg,

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during th ...

garden File:Ters lale2.jpg, Fritillaria imperials in Siirt, Turkey File:John Edwards020.jpg, Illustration in John Edwards, ''The British Herbal'' 1769 File:Fritillaria Imperialis Iran.jpg, Khansar, Iran. This picture shows the six nectaries, dark spots each with a drop of nectar. File:لاله‌های واژگون در کوه دنا.jpg, alt=Fritillaria Imperialis in Dena, Iran II, Fritillaria Imperialis in

Dena Dena (in Luri and fa, ) is the name for a sub-range within the Zagros Mountains, Iran. Mount Dena, with length and average width, is situated on the boundary of the Isfahan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Prov ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q161939 imperialis Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Asia Garden plants