Tulipa aleppensis

Tulipa aleppensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Genus: Tulipa
Species: T. aleppensis
Binomial name
Tulipa aleppensis
Boissier ex Regel

Tulipa aleppensis is a wild tulip found in Southeastern Turkey, Syria, near Beirut in Lebanon and Israel.[1]

Description

Tulipa aleppensis belongs to the genus Tulipa (family Liliaceae). It is a herbaceous, bulbous perennial. The tunic of the bulb is covered with long straight hairs. It forms stolons.[2] The leaves are erect and grey-green, frequently with wavy margins. They are up to 30 cm long and 5 cm wide.[3] The plant produces only a single cup shaped flower, which is intensely red or crimson on the outside and slightly paler inside. The tepals are pointed, the outer larger than the inner.[4] The plant can be up to 45 cm tall.[5] The basal blotch is oval, black and quite short. It can also be entirely absent; very rarely, it has a narrow yellow border.[6] Filaments and anthers are black,[7] the pollen yellow.[8] The flowers appear from March to May. According to the British botanist Alfred Daniel Hall, it is quite similar to Tulipa praecox, but has brighter flowers.[9] It is triploid. Wilford suspects it of being a variant of Tulipa agenensis or Tulipa iulia.[10] It is, however, shorter than T. agenensis and has more narrow tepals and a smaller basal blotch.

History

The plant was discovered near Aleppo by the German Botanist Carl Haussknecht.[11] It was first described in 1873 by the German botanist Eduard August von Regel.[12] In 1874, J. Gilbert Baker described it as Tulipa oculus-solis var. allepica Baker.[13]

As the plant is only found on cultivated land, Wilford suspects that it is a neo-tulip, descended from plants brought from Central Asia by traders.[14] Aleppo is near the end of the Silk Road, after all.

Habitat

Tulipa aleppensis is only found on cultivated land,[15] for example, on fields[16] or in mulberry orchards, as recorded by Hall for the Lebanese species.[17] It is listed on the IUCN red List of threatened Species.[18] The plant is only rarely cultivated in gardens. It needs good drainage and protection from summer rain.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
  2. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
  3. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  4. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  5. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289; 20-30 cm according to Wilford (Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77)
  6. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
  7. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
  8. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  9. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
  10. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  11. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  12. ↑ Acta horti Petropolis 2, 1873, 450; Gartenflora, Monatschrift für deutsche und schweizerische Garten- und Blumenkunde. Erlangen, Stuttgart, Berlin 1873, 296
  13. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 78
  14. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  15. ↑ Brian Mathew/Turhan Baytop 1984, The bulbous plants of Turkey. Frome; Batsford, 102
  16. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
  17. ↑ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
  18. ↑ http://www.gbif.org/species/5299566
  19. ↑ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 78
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