fritillary

plural fritillaries

1. Any of several bulbous perennial plants, of the genus Fritillaria, having flowers with a spotted or chequered pattern.

   Fritillaries are as fundamental a part of the British water meadow landscape as Ratty and Mole slowly punting along under a willow tree. They speak of opalescent spring mornings, with their distinctive chequered bells bowed earthward and beaded with dew, a dark counterpoint to the acid-fresh grass.

   2014 April 6, Naomi Slade, “Fritillaries: Don't forget these lilies of the field: Make a pilgrimage to one of Britain’s few fritillary meadows this season [print version (5 April 2014, p. G5): Consider the lilies of the field]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), London

2. Any of several butterflies, of the family Nymphalidae, having wings with black or silvery spots.

   The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group, of generally strong-winged and very bright-coloured butterflies, very abundant in the tropics, and represented in our own country by our Fritillaries, our Vanessas, and our Purple-emperor.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 438