Snake's Head / Carska kockavica

Description:

The flower has a chequered pattern in shades of purple, or is sometimes pure white. It flowers from March to May and grows between 15 and 40 cm in height. The plant has a round bulb, about 2 cm in diameter which contains poisonous alkaloids.

Habitat:

It is commonly found growing in grasslands in damp soils and river meadows and can be found at altitudes up to 800 m.

Notes:

The Snake's Head Fritillary is native to Europe but in many places (including France, Slovenia and Romania) 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 kockavica 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 quantities every spring at the meadows in Kungsängen, just outside Uppsala, which gives the flower its Swedish name, kungsängslilja. It is also found in Sandemar strandängar (Sandemar beach meadows), a nature reserve west of the village of Dalarö in the Stockholm archipelago.