Parrot tulips are a

tulip Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the ''Tulipa'' genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a different colour ...

cultivar group known for their bright colors and petals. The petals have a "serrated" or "fringed" look. The flowers bloom in late spring and reach a size of almost in length. Although they are

perennials In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

by nature٫ they are often grown as annuals. Parrot tulips come in a wide variety of colors, usually being brightly colored, but can come in darker colors. The flowers originated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and were brought to

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the 18th century. The flower

bud In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or Plant embryogenesis, embryonic Shoot (botany), shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a Plant stem, stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormancy, dormant conditi ...

s are green in color, but as the flowers mature, their bright colors start to appear. Parrot tulips not a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

but are a group of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s with the name ''Tulipa'' Parrot Group. Parrot tulips are the result of natural mutations to single late tulips and triumph tulips. During the 17th and 18th century the most notable mutations were to color patterns with growers attempting to influence the color of the tulips using pigeon droppings, old plaster and even dirty waste water from the kitchen. It wasn't until the late 19th century that the source of these mutations was isolated as the tulip breaking virus. Later in the 20th century, radiation was used to cause mutations in these tulips to search for new colors and patterns.

Description

The parrot tulip is characterized by ruffled petals and bright colors. The flowers are somewhat curled, especially at the edge of their petals and are some of the showiest tulips in competition. The plant itself can grow to tall with the flower being on average around across. The parrot tulip is more puffy and expanded than some other tulips, with other tulips being more inward and curled up. They get their name from their exotic colors and shape, as the petals resemble the feathers on a

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

and parrots tend to have bright colors. Parrot tulips, just like other tulips, grow two or three bluish green leaves that are clustered together at the base of the plant. There are many varieties of parrot tulip. A few include the 'Rainbow' cultivar that, hence its name, has rainbow-colored flowers. The 'White Lizard' cultivar has a pure white color, with light purple near the bottom of the flower and a petal shape different from other parrot tulips. The 'Estella Rijnveld' cultivar can either be white with red streaks or red with white streaks. The 'Negrita Parrot' cultivar comes in several different shades of purple; such as

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, violet, and

magenta Magenta () is a purple-red color. On color wheels of the RGB color model, RGB (additive) and subtractive color, CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in colo ...

References

External links

Parrot Tulip
from ''Horti Itzsteinensis'', by Johann Jakob Walther (1600–69), watercolour, Germany, 17th century. at V&A Museum
"The Parrot Tulip": The Liliaceae Family, by Timothy Clausen
at

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10616541 Tulipa Ornamental plant cultivars