Аңдатпа
The article presents the results of our morphological variation analysis in a few populations of Fritillaria ruthenica Wikstr., F. meleagris L., and F. meleagroides Patrin ex Schult. et Schult. fil., rare ephemeroids of the Liliaceae family. Three populations of F. meleagris , 14 populations of F. ruthenica , and 21 populations of F. meleagroides from the Vladimir, Samara, Penza, Tambov, Voronezh, Saratov, Volgograd, Rostov and Kursk regions, and the Republics of Kalmykia and Bashkortostan were studied in 2014 and 2023–2025. 12 morphological parameters from 30 plants of the generative state were measured in each population. All three Fritillaria species studied are characterized by a high level of intraand interpopulation morphological variability. The contribution of most of the studied morphological traits to variability was statistically significant ( p < 0.05). Plant height and diameter, lower leaf length, width, and thickness, and stem diameter are the most important factors responsible for the observed variation pattern of Fritillaria . As a result of assessing the relationship of the observed variation pattern with environmental variables, the most significant climatic factors were identified. The variation pattern of Fritillaria is virtually independent of altitude. For F. meleagris , a decreasing southwest-to-northeast trend in the parameters most responsible for morphological variation was found across its range. Furthermore, the number of temperature factors correlated with the observed variation pattern was significantly greater than that of humidity factors. In fact, humidity factors significantly influence the pattern of morphological traits variation during the driest period of the year only. For F. ruthenica , unlike F. meleagris , only humidity factors were found to be highly correlated with the variation pattern, and this correlation was moderate, rather than strong, as in F. meleagris . For F. meleagroides , the correlation between bioclimatic factors and the variation pattern was very weak. This is likely due to the fact that, unlike the two previous species, F. meleagroides is a representative of intrazonal vegetation, occupying habitats with high humidity (floodplain meadows) within essentially the same range as F. ruthenica , which grows in steppe areas in regions with the continental climate.