Description
(syn. brachyanthera)
This very distinct and desirable species is the latest of all of the Tulipa species to flower. It is very late in the Tulipa season, usually well into May, sometimes June before this flowers. The blooms are medium sized, held on stiff elegant stems and are of a vivid post-box-red with a hint of gold on the outside, held over narrow, bright green leaves. The plant attains 30-40 cm (shorter in bright sunshine, taller in shade) but its slender nature means it is never anything but elegant.
This one really likes, and needs, to be out in the garden. It never needs lifting, it comes up year after year and will even very gently seed about, if happy.
The bulbs go very deep which renders it poor for commercial cultivation, hence its scarcity and price, coupled with its lack of offsets (it has to be brought on from seed) and its naturally small bulbs, that make it hard to find. Our stock is almost always limited. However it is, quite simply, the best tulip for the garden that there is.
Found just once in the wild in the Pontus Mountains of Turkey, somewhere near Amasya. It was described in 1894 and has never been seen again since in the wild. It seems probable that the original locality stated was incorrect as the plant is deep rooting, highly perennial and likely to still be extant at wherever the actual wild station is.
AM (RHS) 1948, AGM (RHS) 1949 and 1993
