''Fritillaria thunbergii'' is a flowering plant species in the lily family Liliaceae. It is native to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

and in

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

Province of western

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, though cultivated in other places and naturalized in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and in other parts of

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 130 浙贝母 zhe bei mu ''Fritillaria thunbergii'' Miquel, Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi. 3: 157. 1867
/ref> ''Fritillaria thunbergii'' produces

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

s up to 30 mm in diameter. The stem is up to 80 cm tall. The flowers are pale yellow, sometimes with a purple tinge or purple markings.Miquel, Friedrich Anton Wilhelm 1867. Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi 3: 157
in Latin The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''thunbergii'' honors the Swedish naturalist

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Sweden, Swedish Natural history, naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus ...

, who collected many plants in Japan in the 18th century. ;formerly included *''Fritillaria thunbergii'' var. ''puqiensis'' (G.D.Yu & G.Y.Chen) P.K.Hsiao & S.C.Yu, now called '' Fritillaria monantha'' Migo

References

External links

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Fritillaria thunbergii (Thunberg fritillary)Flora of China Illustrations vol. 24, figures 114, 1-4 , line drawingsPacific Bulb Society, Asian Fritillaria Four
color photos of several species including ''Fritillaria thunbergii''
TCM Wiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Bulbus Fritillariae Thunbergii
photos of bulbs, information about use of ''Fritillaria thunbergii'' in traditional Chinese medicine thunbergii Flora of Asia Plants described in 1784 {{Liliales-stub