A near-ground view showing isolated red fritillary flowers in bloom around the silktassel bushes west of Merlin, Oregon.  Only in a 50' area did I find a total of seven fritillaries growing in thick poison oak that I had to clear away, an area also tick-laden this time of year.  This area is a known location to find the rare & imperiled Gentler's fritillary (Fritillaria gentneri), a species only found at 28 locations in Southern Oregon & two locations in Northern California.  In all, there are no more than 1,200 total flowers.  I'm not fully certain these are Gentler's as there are other species of fritillary that bear an almost identical appearance such as the more common scarlet fritillary.  In fact that is still some speculation on whether Gentler's fritillary is really its own species.  As you can see, Inset 1 shows a zoom in of a fritillary over a foot in height w/ slightly withered deep red flowers while Inset 2 (the more common type I found) is a brighter red variety, some up them over two feet in height.