Tulipa aleppensis

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.[4] The leaves are erect and grey-green, frequently with wavy margins. They are up to 30 cm long and 5 cm wide.[5] 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.[6] The plant can be up to 45 cm tall.[7] The basal blotch is oval, black and quite short. It can also be entirely absent; very rarely, it has a narrow yellow border.[8] Filaments and anthers are black,[9] the pollen yellow.[10] 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.[11] It is triploid. Wilford suspects it of being a variant of Tulipa agenensis or Tulipa iulia.[12] It is, however, shorter than T. agenensis and has more narrow tepals and a smaller basal blotch.

The plant was discovered near Aleppo by the German Botanist Carl Haussknecht.[13] It was first described in 1873 by the German botanist Eduard August von Regel.[14] In 1874, J. Gilbert Baker described it as Tulipa oculus-solis var. allepica Baker.[15]

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.[16] Aleppo is near the end of the Silk Road, after all.

Tulipa aleppensis is only found on cultivated land,[17] for example, on fields[18] or in mulberry orchards, as recorded by Hall for the Lebanese species.[19] It is listed on the IUCN red List of threatened Species.[20] The plant is only rarely cultivated in gardens. It needs good drainage and protection from summer rain.[21]

• Encyclopaedia of Live, herbarium specimen from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
• International Plan names index
• Liliaceae of the World