Fritillaria meleagris is native to Europe and western Asia but in many places it is an
endangered species that is rarely found in the wild but is commonly grown in gardens. In Croatia, the flower is known as and is associated by some with the country's national symbol. It is the official flower of the Swedish province of
Uppland, where it grows in large numbers every spring in the meadows of
Kungsängen (“King’s Meadow”), just outside
Uppsala, which gives the flower its
Swedish name, (“king's meadow lily”). It is also found, for example, in
Sandemar Nature Reserve, a nature reserve west of
Dalarö in the
Stockholm Archipelago.
United Kingdom In the
United Kingdom there is some disagreement amongst botanists as to whether
F. meleagris is a native species or a long-established garden escapee that has become
naturalised over time. The plant was first described in the 16th century by herbalist
John Gerard who had known of it only as a garden plant, and it was not recorded in the wild until 1736, which has led some to argue that it must be an escapee. However, the fact that its habitat is usually confined to ancient hay
meadows, and it does not easily spread to adjoining land, leads others to the conclusion that it is a native species which became isolated from the European population when Britain was cut off from mainland Europe after the
last glacial period. The plant was once abundant in the UK, particularly in the
Thames Valley and parts of
Wiltshire, and was collected in vast quantities to be sold as a cut flower in the markets of
London,
Oxford and
Birmingham. During World War II most of the ancient meadows were ploughed up and turned over to the production of food crops, destroying much of the plant's habitat.
Oxford and the
Oxfordshire village of
Ducklington, It is also found in the
North Meadow National Nature Reserve,
Wiltshire,
Clattinger Farm Nature Reserve, Wiltshire, on
Portholme in Cambridgeshire and
Fox Fritillary Meadow and
Mickfield Meadow nature reserves in Suffolk. In 2002 it was chosen as the County flower of
Oxfordshire following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife. In the narrative poem
Venus and Adonis, Adonis metamorphoses into a purple flower checked with white: • By this, the boy that by her side lay kill’d • Was melted like a vapour from her sight, • And in his blood that on the ground lay spill’d, • A purple flower sprung up, chequer’d with white. == Cultivation ==