Fritillaria lusitanica

Phylum: Anthophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Liliales - Family: Liliaceae

This beautiful flower, a member of the family Liliaceae, occurs in grassy places but can also be found in open woodland and rocky places.

The flowers of this fritillary are brownish or reddish with a green-tinged chequered pattern on the outside of the petals. Inside the flower is green and sometimes shows a red-to-brown chequered pattern.

This fritillary flowers from late February until May and can be found throughout much of the Iberian Peninsula except in the far north.

The plants shown on this page were photographed in woodland in the Algarve region of Portugal between late February and early May.