Tulipa aleppensis
| Tulipa aleppensis | |
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| Species: | T. aleppensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Tulipa aleppensis Boissier ex Regel
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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
- ^ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
- ^ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ 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)
- ^ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
- ^ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ Acta horti Petropolis 2, 1873, 450; Gartenflora, Monatschrift für deutsche und schweizerische Garten- und Blumenkunde. Erlangen, Stuttgart, Berlin 1873, 296
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 78
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ Brian Mathew/Turhan Baytop 1984, The bulbous plants of Turkey. Frome; Batsford, 102
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 77
- ^ Anna Pavord, The Tulip. Bloomsbury 1999, 289
- ^ http://www.gbif.org/species/5299566
- ^ Richard Wilford 2006, Tulips, species and hybrids for the gardener, Portland, Timber Press, 78