TULIP, a genus (Tulipa) of bulbous herbs belonging to the lily family (Liliaceae). The species are found wild along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, in the Levant, Armenia, Caucasus, Northern Africa, Persia, and sporadically across North and Central Asia to Japan. The cup-shaped flowers have six regu lar segments in two rows, as many free stamens, and a three celled ovary with a sessile stigma, which ripens into a leathery many-seeded capsule. The species are numerous, and are dis tinguished one from another by the scales of the bulb being woolly or smooth on the inner surface. by the character of the flower-stalks, by the filaments being hairy or otherwise, and by other characters. Owing to the great beauty of the flowers they have long been favourites in European and American gar dens, and have been crossed and recrossed till it has become almost impossible to refer the plants to their original types.
The early flowering "Van Thol" tulips, the segments of which are mostly scarlet with yellow edges, are derived from T. suave olens, a native of the Caspian region. T. Gesneriana, a native of Armenia and central Russia, is the origin of some of the later flowering varieties. T. pubescens, which is probably a hybrid be tween the two species just named, is the source of some of the early flowering kinds known as Pottebakker, etc. T. oculus-solis and T. Clusiana are lovely species, natives of southern Europe, and T. silvestris, with elegant yellow flowers, is a doubtful native of England. More recently, owing to the exertions of Russian naturalists, a large number of new species have been discovered in Turkistan, and introduced into Europe. Some of these are very beautiful, and render it probable that by intercrossing with the older species still further difficulties will be presented in the way of identification. These difficulties are further enhanced by the fact that, quite apart from any cross-breeding, the plants, when subjected to cultivation, vary so greatly in the course of two or three years from the original species from which they are directly descended that their parentage is scarcely recognizable. This in nate power of variation has enabled the florist to obtain, and ulti mately to "fix," so many remarkable varieties. At the present day
tulips of all kinds are much more extensively grown than at any previous period. Not only are millions of bulbs cultivated in Holland for export every year, but thousands are now also grown for the same purpose in the Channel islands, more par ticularly in Guernsey. Large quantities are also grown in the fen district of England and about Belfast in Ireland. Tulips were introduced into the Low Countries in the 16th century from Constantinople and the Levant.
The florists' varieties of tulips, which have sprung from Tulipa Gesneriana, are arranged in separate classes named bizarres, bybloemens and roses, according to their colour and marking. Tulips are readily raised from seeds, and the seedlings when they first flower (af ter about 7 years cultivation) are of one colour— that is, they are self-coloured. Judged by the florists' rules, they are either good or bad in form, and pure or stained (white or yel low) at the base; the badly formed and stained flowers are thrown away, while the good and pure are grown on, these being known as "breeder" tulips. The breeder bulbs and their offsets may grow on for years producing only self-coloured flowers, but after a time, which is varied and indefinite, some of the progeny "break," that is produce flowers with the variegation which is so much prized. The flower is then said to be "rectified"; it is a bizarre when it has i a yellow ground marked with purple or red, a bybloemen when it has a white ground marked with violet or purple, or a rose when it has a white ground marked with rose colour.
Tulips flourish in any good garden soil that has been deeply dug or trenched and manured the previous season. To secure perfect drainage and greater warmth a fair quantity of sand or grit should be present. Fresh manure should be avoided, but the remains from an old hot-bed or mushroom bed may be incor porated. The best time to plant is in September and October, the bulbs being buried about 6 in. deep and the same distance apart. The best effects are produced in formal beds by planting the same variety in each, to secure the plants being of the same height and in flower simultaneously.