46 



TULIPA Gesneriana. 



Gesners Tulip. 



HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Liliace^;. 



TULIPA. Bot. Reg. vol. 14. fol. 1143. 



T. Gesneriana ; caule tunicisque bulbi glabris, petalis oblongis rotundatis con- 



cavis, ovario prismatico. 

 T. Gesneriana. Linn. Sp. PL 438. 



" This species, interesting as the parent of the innumera- 

 ble garden varieties with round petals, is the largest of all 

 the wild Tulips. Its tall, strong, tough scape, its broad, 

 round petals (in the wild plant uniformly red), sufficiently 

 distinguish it at first sight from its congeners. It is per- 

 fectly smooth all over ; the absence of down on the scape 

 distinguishes it from T. scabriscapa ; the absence of wool on 

 the bulb from O. Solis : the roundness of the petals from 

 both. In the prismatic germ and overhanging stigma alone 

 it has some approximation to T. scabriscapa. 



It is found, without any disposition to vary, in fields at 

 three places near Florence : Le Rose, a farm on the road to 

 Siena ; Galluzzo, four miles from Florence ; and in the val 

 d'Emo, not far from the city on the south side. 



Raddi considered it as certainly the Tulip of Gesner, 

 whether that were the parent of the garden sorts or not, 

 Fischer thinks the T. Gesneriana of Pallas, found in the 

 steppes of Russia, a distinct species, and not the parent of 

 the garden sorts." 



September, 1838. s 



