Large-flowered Fiddleneck

Large-flowered fiddleneck grows on hilly grasslands at lower elevations in clay-rich soil. It can be found on steep, north-facing slopes that are in shaded terrain and remain moist for longer into the day than surrounding areas. It prefers a moderate climate with average seasonal lows in the upper 30s and highs in the lower 90s.

The large-flowered fiddleneck is a flowering plant that produces bright orange, trumpet-shaped flowers that grow on a fiddleneck-shaped stem. A mature plant can grow up to 36 inches in height and have hundreds of flowers during its blooming period from March to May.

The large-flowered fiddleneck is an annual plant that sprouts with the onset of fall or early winter rain. Plants grow throughout the winter and flower in the early spring. Prior to the hot summer months, the plant sets seeds and dies. Individuals can have up to 30 branches with a single inflorescence, or flowering stalk, occurring on each branch. Each flower can produce up to four seeds called a nutlet. The number of nutlets a single plant can produce varies from a few to several thousand. Seeds fall near the maternal plant. The fiddleneck does not maintain a large seed bank and relies on the previous year’s seeds.

The fiddleneck has a heterostylous reproductive system, which means it has two different flower forms or morphs: a pin morph and a thrum morph. In pin flowers, anthers are situated within the corolla tube and the stigma, which are supported by a long style, extends beyond the corolla lip. In thrum flowers, anthers extend beyond the mouth of the corolla, and the stigma, on a short style, occurs well within the flower tube. While this reproductive system is considered primitive, the fiddleneck does have the ability to produce the same number of seeds as other fiddlenecks with a modern, or homostylic, reproductive system.