Tulip

Tulips are very popular to an extent that during the 17th century, most of Europe particularly Holland, was gripped in a craze for Tulips that as a result, many had to even sell off their fortunes. It was popularly known as the Tulipomania.

The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, of which up to 109 species have been described and which belongs to the family Liliaceae – lilies..

The genus’s native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, Anatolia (Turkey), Israel, Palestine, North Africa, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip’s centre of diversity is in the Pamir, Hindu Kush, and Tien Shan mountains. A number of species and many hybrid cultivars are grown in gardens, as potted plants, or to be displayed as fresh-cut flowers. Most cultivars of tulip are derived from Tulipa gesneriana.

Tulips are some of the most popular spring flowers of all time, and the third most popular flowers world-wide next only to the Rose and Chrysanthemum. Tulips come in an incredible variety of colors, height, and flower shapes. Some Tulips are even fragrant.

Kingdom

Plantae

Division

Magnoliophyta

Class

Lilliopsida

Order

Liliales

Family

Liliaceae

Genus

Tulipa

 

The word Tulip is thought to be a corruption of the Turkish word ‘tulbend’ for turban. The Tulip was introduced by a famous Austrian biologist Carolus Clusius. Tulip plants belong to the genus Tulipa, in the lily family, Liliaceae. Tulips bloom on bulbous plants, with large, showy flowers with six petals. There are around 100 species of Tulips, which actually came from the Central Asia where they grew wild. Turkish growers first cultivated tulips as early as 1,000 AD.

Facts about Tulips

• There are now over 3,000 different registered varieties of cultivated Tulips.
• Every year billions of Tulips are cultivated, a majority of which are grown and exported from Holland.
• Historically, Europe considered Tulips as the symbol of the Ottoman Empire.
• Tulips grow wild over a great territory in Asia Minor through Siberia to China.
• Tulips were first cultivated and hybridized by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.
• Tulips symbolize imagination, dreaminess, perfect lover and a declaration of love.
• Fresh out of onions? Use your Tulip bulbs instead! Tulip bulbs are a good replacement for onions in cooking.

Classification of Tulips

The following classification of Tulips is based on the time of bloom. Tulips can be divided into early, mid, and late season flowering Tulips.

• Early Flowering Tulips: These Tulips bloom in March and early April. Early Flowering Tulips are Species Tulips, Kaufmanniana (e.g. Waterlily), Fosteriana (e.g. Red Emperor), Single Early(e.g. Apricot Beauty), Double Early, Greigii Tulips etc.
• Midseason Flowering Tulips: These bloom in April and early May. e.g. Triumph, Swan Wings Tulip, Darwin Hybrids, Parrot Tulips
• Late Flowering Tulips: These Tulips bloom in May. e.g. Single Late, Double Late, Viridiflora Tulips, Lily-Flowered, Fringed Tulips, Rembrandt Tulips, Multi-Flowering Tulips.