First up.

This Fritillaria meleagris is the first flower to open on Mrs. K's wild flower patch.

One of our rarest flowers. Before 1939 it was known in 27 counties. But agricultural change and development has reduced it today to about the same number of sights. The most famous of its remaining strongholds is in Magdalen College Meadows, Oxford where thousands of both purple and white ones bloom each year. They are a remarkable sight. Other strongholds are in the Thames valley. The most northerly site in in Staffordshire.

There are many common names for this plant but the best known is Snakeshead Fritillary.