Fritillary - Fritillaria meleagris
It is a medium plant (20 to 40cm), with nodding, chequered, bell shaped purple flowers.
Originally a plant of wet meadows, but now regularly planted.
Flowering in April and May.
Perennial.
It was once common in wet meadows in the South of Britain, but draining, ploughing and fertilizers have greatly reduced the sites where the massed blooms appear in the wild.
Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland where all records are probably of introduced plants. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 2 of the 617 tetrads.
David Nicholls
Rutland Water
21 April 2017
Bob Jackson
Walton on the Wolds
02 April 2020
Saharima Roenisch
Shady Lane Arboretum
30 March 2017
Adrian Baker
Fosse Meadows, Sharnford
09 April 2017
Bob Sheridan
Langham hedgerow
27 April 2016
John E Fletcher
Glen Parva
02 April 2014
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
Enter a town or village to see local records
MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020
UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Snake's Head, Fritillary
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Liliales
- Family:
- Liliaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 33
- First record:
- 02/04/2014 (Fletcher, John)
- Last record:
- 19/04/2025 (Isabel Raval)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.
Latest images
Latest records
Graham Calow
Sharnford, Fosse Meadows
03 April 2025
hughes.s16@sky.com
Priory water
02 May 2021
Steve Mathers
Rutland Water
05 May 2017
Saharima Roenisch
Shady Lane Arboretum
21 March 2017
