II: Fritillary
Get your nets, we're catching butterflies!
Good morning. Today is duodi, the 22nd of Floréal, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate le frittilaire, a plant that hangs a belfry of a bell-like flowers.
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The most prized version of fritillary is probably the snakeshead, which has a unique lavender-and-white or burgundy-and-white checkerboard pattern across its petals. The flower is rare but still appears in wildflower meadows from the UK to its endemic range in Central Asia. It's common enough in Croatia (where it's called the kockavica or "cube flower") that it's believed to be the reason checkerboard patterns have long been the unifying symbol for Croats, including on the modern Croatian flag. The word, by the way, is apparently pronounced more like "artillery" than "capillary."
Another species with a checkerboard pattern that earned it the name "fritillary" is a species of butterfly. Well, make that 76 species of butterfly across several families. It's a popular common name for any butterfly with checked wings.
We've been talking so much about caterpillars and butterflies lately and we haven't taken the time to just enjoy how gorgeous they are. So here, as a palate-cleanser from all the hard learning, is a gallery of fritillaries with quick factoids:
