Spring's ephemeral beauty: the fritillary

It's still blooming time for the delicately nodding, bell-shaped snake's head fritillary, a flower with an unassuming and slender appearance, with usually purple petals that feature a distinctive lighter colored checkered pattern. Scientifically called Fritillaria meleagris, this hay meadow beauty is popularly known under the name of snake's head fritillary, guinea-hen flower, drooping tulip, chequered lily, or simply the fritillary. In Romania it goes under a variety of local names: in the northern part of the country, for instance in Fersig - Maramures County, or in Chiesd - Salaj County, it is called "pantofles", elsewhere it is known as "pearl hen", "bucket", or "variegated tulip".

Photo credit: (c) Sebastian OLARU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The fritillary is a moisture-loving plant, and commonly grows in grasslands, damp soils, meadows and at forest edges, but in Romania it is considered an endangered species, as its numbers have dwindled dramatically.

In Salaj County, where it once used to richly grace a 10-hectare protected area, it is now just a sporadic presence, which is why the experts advise its conservation in other realms where it can still be found. In the protected area "The Variegated Tulip Meadow ? Salaj Valley," the flower that gave its name to the expanse is today a fading presence.

"This was declared a protected area in communist times, but following massive land restitutions after 1990, the people proceeded to working the land, and the fritillary has now become a rarity," Aurica Grec, director of the Salaj County Environmental Protection Agency, told AGERPRES.

According to the "Guide to Salaj County's Protected Areas," in the past, the floristically diversified "Variegated Tulip Meadow ? Salaj Valley," a protected...