''Tulipa gesneriana'', the Didier's tulip or garden tulip, is a species of plant in the lily family, cultivated as an ornamental in many countries because of its large, showy flowers. This tall, late-blooming species has a single blooming flower and linear or broadly

lanceolate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

leaves. This is a complex hybridized neo-species, and can also be called ''Tulipa'' × ''gesneriana''. Most of the

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 of tulip are derived from ''Tulipa gesneriana''. It has become naturalised in parts of central and southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and scattered locations in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Description

Vegetative characteristics

''Tulipa gesneriana'' is a bulbous''Tulipa gesneriana'' L. (n.d.). Plants of the World Online. Retrieved January 13, 2025, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:542923-1 herb''Tulipa gesneriana'' Linnaeus. (n.d.). Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Retrieved January 13, 2025, from https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/28720 with ovate-lanceolate leaves. The bulb produces offsets laterally.

Generative characteristics

The erect, broadly campanulate flowers with glabrous, obtuse tepalsMüller, F., Ritz, C. M., Wesche, K., & Welk, E. (2021)
Rothmaler - Exkursionsflora von Deutschland. Gefäßpflanzen: Grundband.
p. 153. Springer Spektrum. have six stamens and three carpels.The Botanical Register : consisting of coloured figures of exotic plants, cultivated in British gardens; with their history and mode of treatment (Vol. 5).
(1819)

Taxonomy

It was published by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1753.Linné, Carl von, & Salvius, Lars. (1753). Caroli Linnaei ... Species plantarum :exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas... (Vol. 1, p. 306). Impensis Laurentii Salvii. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358325Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.-aa). ''Tulipa gesneriana'' L. Tropicos. Retrieved January 13, 2025, from https://www.tropicos.org/name/18400363 It is the type species of its genus.Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.-aa). ''Tulipa'' L. Tropicos. Retrieved January 13, 2025, from https://www.tropicos.org/name/40020559

Etymology

The specific epithet ''gesneriana'' honours the Swiss botanist

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; ; 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Old Swiss Confederacy, Swiss physician, natural history, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly ...

.Grout, J. (n.d.). Conrad Gesner. Encyclopaedia Romana. Retrieved January 13, 2025, from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/gesner.htmlStep, E. (1896).
Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse.
p. 607. Vereinigtes Königreich: F. Warne & Company.

Ecology

The flowers are pollinated by '' Halictus'' bees.E. Loew. (1892)
Blüthenbiologische Beiträge II.
Jahrbücher Für Wissenschaftliche Botanik, 23, 207–253. SEM_Image_of_Tulip_Pollen

History

This hybrid is widely believed to have originated in

Tian Shan The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, from the collections of the sultan of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in Istanbul, as is the case with other species of

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 ...

s that came into

. In 1574, Sultan Selim II ordered the Kadi of A‘azāz in Syria to send him 50,000 tulip bulbs. However, Harvey points out several problems with this source, and there is also the possibility that tulips and hyacinth (''sümbüll''), originally Indian spikenard (''Nardostachys jatamansi'') have been confused. Sultan Selim also imported 300,000 bulbs of ''Kefe Lale'' (also known as Cafe-Lale, from the medieval name Kaffa, probably '' Tulipa sauveolens'', syn. ''Tulipa schrenkii'') from the port of Kefe in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, for his gardens in the Topkapı Sarayı in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. They are hybridized with other species present in the collections. ''Tulipa sauveolens'' is genetically very closely related to ''Tulipa gesneriana'', and sometimes classified in the same species. ''Tulipa gesneriana'' was introduced to western Europe from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in 1554. It was first described in 1559 by

. Rev. John Marius Wilson (Editor) Stereoscope_Image_of_Tulip_Anatomy

When the tulip originally arrived in Europe from the Ottoman Empire, its popularity soared and it quickly became a status symbol for the newly wealthy merchants of the

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

. As a mosaic virus began to infect bulbs, producing rare and spectacular effects in the bloom but weakening and destroying the already limited number of bulbs, a speculative frenzy now known as

tulip mania Tulip mania () was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically co ...

was triggered between 1634 and 1637. Bulbs were exchanged for land, livestock, and houses, and the Dutch created

futures markets A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or f ...

where contracts to buy bulbs at the end of the season were bought and sold. A single bulb, the ''Semper Augustus'', fetched 6,000 florins in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

— at that time, a florin could purchase a bushel of wheat.

Use

Food

The flower and bulb can cause dermatitis through the

allergen An allergen is an otherwise harmless substance that triggers an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals by stimulating an immune response. In technical terms, an allergen is an antigen that is capable of stimulating a type-I hypersensitivi ...

, tuliposide A, even though the bulbs may be consumed with little ill effect. The bulbs may be dried and pulverised and added to cereals or flour.

Horticulture

The sweet-scented bisexual flowers appear during April and May. Bulbs are extremely resistant to frost and can tolerate temperatures well below freezing — a period of low temperature is necessary to induce proper growth and flowering, triggered by an increase in sensitivity to the

phytohormone Plant hormones (or phytohormones) are signal molecules, produced within plants, that occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones control all aspects of plant growth and development, including embryogenesis, the regulation of organ si ...

auxin Auxins (plural of auxin ) are a class of plant hormones (or plant-growth regulators) with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins play a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in plant life cycles and are essent ...

.Rietveld, Patrick L.; Wilkinson, Claire; Franssen, Hanneke M.; Balk, Peter A.; van der Plas, Linus H.W.; Weisbeek, Peter J.; de Boer, A. Douwe, "Low temperature sensing in tulip (''Tulipa gesneriana'' L.) is mediated through an increased response to auxin", ''Journal of Experimental Botany'', v.51, no. 344, March, 2000, p. 587-594.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q163060 gesneriana Flora of Turkey Ephemeral plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Garden plants