Tulips are some of the most beautiful and amazing flowers, that can be found especially in Amsterdam, and are usually given as a gift.
Let’s find out more about the tulips!
- Tulips form a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes.
- The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly colored, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm colors).
- They often have a different colored blotch at the base of the tepals (petals and sepals, collectively), internally.
- Because of a degree of variability within the populations, and a long history of cultivation, classification has been complex and controversial.
- The tulip is a member of the lily family, Liliaceae, along with 14 other genera, where it is most closely related to Amana, Erythronium and Gagea in the tribe Lilieae.
- There are about 75 species, and these are divided among four subgenera.
- The name “tulip” is thought to be derived from a Persian word for turban, which it may have been thought to resemble.
- Tulips originally were found in a band stretching from Southern Europe to Central Asia, but since the seventeenth century have become widely naturalised and cultivated.
- In their natural state they are adapted to steppes and mountainous areas with temperate climates.
- Flowering in the spring, they become dormant in the summer once the flowers and leaves die back, emerging above ground as a shoot from the underground bulb in early spring.
- Originally growing wild in the valleys of the Tian Shan Mountains, tulips were cultivated in Constantinople as early as 1055.
- By the 15th century, tulips were among the most prized flowers; becoming the symbol of the Ottomans
- While tulips had probably been cultivated in Persia from the tenth century, they did not come to the attention of the West until the 16th century, when Western diplomats to the Ottoman court observed and reported on them.
- They were rapidly introduced into Europe and became a frenzied commodity during Tulip mania.
- Tulips were frequently depicted in Dutch Golden Age paintings, and have become associated with the Netherlands, the major producer for world markets, ever since.
- In the 17th century Netherlands, during the time of the Tulip mania, an infection of tulip bulbs by the tulip breaking virus created variegated patterns in the tulip flowers that were much admired and valued.
- While truly broken tulips do not exist anymore, the closest available specimens today are part of the group known as the Rembrandts, that were named because Rembrandt painted some of the most admired breaks of his time.
- Breeding programs have produced thousands of hybrid and cultivars in addition to the original species.
- They are known in horticulture as botanical tulips.
- They are popular throughout the world, both as ornamental garden plants and as cut flowers.
- In general, tulips are said to symbolize love and signal spring’s arrival.
- Red tulips represent true love, white tulips say “I’m sorry,” and purple tulips symbolize royalty. Interestingly, a multi-colored bouquet of the blossoms is said to be a compliment of the recipient’s eyes.
- The flower is also the symbol of the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.
- A variety of tulip was actually named after James Parkinson, the doctor for which the degenerative disease is named.
- The foundation began using the flower in 1980.
- At one point in history, tulips were the most expensive flower.
- In the 1600s it cost almost 10 times what an average working-class man earned in a year.
- The blooms have three petals and three sepals, but since the sepals are almost the same size and shape as the petals, tulips appear to have six petals to a bulb.
- During World War II, tulips and tulip breads were often eaten by those who couldn’t afford other foods.
- The flowers can be used to replace onions in many recipes .
- Also, tulips can sometimes be used to make wine.
- The Netherlands are the largest producer and exporter of tulips worldwide, growing and exporting nearly three billlion bulbs each year.
- At one point in Holland’s history, tulips were its fourth biggest export, behind cheese, gin and herring.
- The tulip is the National Flower o The Netherlands.
- Tulips’ shapes are what originally gave them their name. The name originated from the Persian word “delband,” meaning turban.
- Tulips have been cultivated in every color except for classic blue.
- Actually, blue tulips exist, but they have a purplish tint.
- One of the most interesting colors of a tulip variety is the deep purple of the Queen of the Night tulip.
- The flower is so dark it appears black in some lights and is quickly gaining popularity for its unique hue.
- Because of the fact that tulip bulbs don’t reliably come back every year, tulip varieties that fall out of favour with present aesthetic values have traditionally gone extinct. Unlike other flowers that do not suffer this same limitation, the Tulip’s historical forms do not survive alongside their modern incarnations.
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