"Flax-leaved tulip "

Description

Tulipa linifolia, the flax-leaved tulip or Bokhara tulip,is a species of flowering plant in the tulip genus Tulipa (Clusiana group), family Liliaceae, native to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, northern Iran and Afghanistan. Growing to 20 cm (8 in) tall, it is a bulbous perennial with wavy red-margined sword-shaped leaves, and bowl-shaped red flowers in early to mid-spring. Each petal has blackish marks at the base. For a general description of the taxonomic and nomenclature confusion, see Paghat's Garden, especially for the relationship between T. linifolia and T. batalinii, and also Pacific Bulb Society. T. linifolia is often referred to in horticulture as 'Batalinii Group'. and also in some databases such as the USDA. The Latin specific epithet linifolia means "with leaves like flax" (Linum). Tulips (Tulipa) are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly colored, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm colors). They often have a different colored blotch at the base of the tepals (petals and sepals, collectively), internally. Because of a degree of variability within the populations, and a long history of cultivation, classification has been complex and controversial. The tulip is a member of the lily family, Liliaceae, along with 14 other genera, where it is most closely related to Amana, Erythronium and Gagea in the tribe Lilieae. There are about 75 species, and these are divided among four subgenera. The name "tulip" is thought to be derived from a Persian word for turban, which it may have been thought to resemble by those who discovered it. Tulips originally were found in a band stretching from Southern Europe to Central Asia, but since the seventeenth century have become widely naturalised and cultivated (see map). In their natural state they are adapted to steppes and mountainous areas with temperate climates. Flowering in the spring, they become dormant in the summer once the flowers and leaves die back, emerging above ground as a shoot from the underground bulb in early spring. Growing wild over much of the Near East and Central Asia, tulips were cultivated in Constantinople as early as 1055. By the 15th century, tulips were among the most prized flowers; becoming the symbol of the Ottomans.