FRITILLARY; a genus of the monocotyledonous order, belonging to the hexandria class of plants. There are five species, all of them bulbous-rooted flowering perennials, producing annual stalks from about one foot to a yard or more high, terminated by large, bell-shaped, lilacaceous flowers, of a great variety of colours. They are all propagated by offsets, which they furnish abundantly from the sides of their roots, and which may be separated every second or third year; they are hardy plants, and will thrive in any of the common borders.