TULIPA 



TULIPA 



3397 



quire five or six weeks. When the pots have become 

 well filled with roots the more the better they are 

 ready to be brought into the house. For the first few 

 days at least the temperature should be moderate and 

 even, and the atmosphere not too dry. Water freely 

 but not to excess. Some of the varieties especially 

 the white thin-petaled ones are said to resent over- 

 watering very quickly. If raised ia living-rooms 

 greater care is necessary, as the atmosphere of such a 

 room is drier than that of a greenhouse. On cold 

 nights the plants should be removed from exposed 

 places where they are liable to freeze, and when the 

 flowers appear they should not be allowed to stand in 

 the direct rays of the sun shining through a window. 

 Many of the handsomest flowers are thus easily burned 

 and wilted. Practically all of the early single varieties 

 are adapted to pot culture, especially the Due van 

 Thols when well rooted; otherwise they are extremely 

 unsatisfactory. For a succession, pot every week or 

 ten days from Sep- 

 tember to December 

 or pot early and 

 bring into the house 

 at fortnightly inter- 

 vals. Avoid cak- 

 ing the soil beneath 

 bulbs. The single 

 early tulips are best 

 for forcing, al- 

 though some of the 

 Darwins give good 

 results. 



Many of the early 

 single varieties are 

 adapted to water- 

 culture. For this 

 purpose use ordinary 

 "hyacinth glasses" 

 and select only well- 

 formed solid per- 

 fect bulbs of fair size. 

 Put a little charcoal 

 in the water to keep 



it pure. The bulbs must be placed so that the base 

 is just in contact with the water not immersed in it. 

 Place them in a dark closet for ten days or a fortnight 

 until the bulbs have become well rooted, then give them 

 plenty of light and air. 



Propagation is effected in various ways. Tulips may 

 be increased by the side offsets, but these are not so 

 constant as new bulbs produced within the outer tunics 

 by means of cutting the old bulbs. Fig. 3869 shows a 

 section of a bulb with new inner bulb and outer offset 

 in place. The new bulb is completely inclosed in a sac 

 which afterward becomes the outer dry membranous 

 tunic. The pubescence, if any, may be found on the 

 inside of this sac, even in the earliest stages of growth. 

 The new bulb is attached to the base of the flower- 

 stem, immediately above the root-crown from which the 

 former proceeds directly upward. Each new bulb- 

 tunic (including the outer sac) is provided with a grow- 

 ing tip, which often extends above ground into a leaf, 

 each one coming up within the other. Fig. 3869 shows 

 the separated leafy bulb-scales, and indicates the homol- 

 ogy of tunics and leaves. Sports among the offsets are 

 at present mainly depended on for the production of 

 new varieties. These have been found susceptible to 

 the "breaking" process, though perhaps slower to 

 respond than the seedlings. Seed production is now 

 practised only in exceptional cases. The production 

 of hybridized varieties by crossing the old forms with 

 some of the newly introduced species is likely to come 

 into favor. 



Tulips are "Holland bulbs;" that is to say, the bulbs 

 are grown mostly in Holland and are extensively 

 shipped to this country. Considerable interest has 



3869. Three leafy bulb-scales from 

 young bulb, exhibiting the homology of 

 leaves and bulb-scales (XJi). At the 

 right an old tulip bulb, showing for- 

 mation of new bulb within the old, and 

 flower-stem attached directly to root- 



been aroused in the growing of commercial bulbs in 

 this country, particularly in the Puget Sound region. 

 The tulip can be grown to perfection in the Pacific 

 Northwest, but the cost of production, on account of 

 the high wage-rate, may be a controlling problem. As 

 the situation looks now, the American can produce 

 fully as good a bulb, and one that will mature earlier 

 than the Holland-grown; but whether the product can 

 be sold in the eastern market in competition with 

 the Dutch is a question yet to be determined. It 

 is probable that the bulbs can be grown as far south 

 as San Francisco. South of San Francisco, the single 

 early tulips bloom very close to the ground; on the 

 other hand, the Darwins seem to do very well in the 

 Santa Cruz and Ventura regions. At the government 

 bulb-farm at Bellingham, Washington, good tulip 

 bulbs with normal increase have been produced under 

 adverse conditions. 



KEY TO THE GROUPS. 



It is a matter of regret that the key used below is 

 based on technical botanical characters of no interest 

 to the horticulturist, but it seems to be impossible to 

 group the species primarily according to the color and 

 shape of the flowers or other marked external features. 

 It is difficult to determine the cultivated forms botani- 

 cally. For the most part, the portraits cited in this 

 treatment are under the names that accompany them; 

 the authors can not vouch for all of them. 



Subgenus I. ORITHYA. Style distinct by the attenua- 

 tion of the ovary, bearing 8 small stigmas: 

 dwarf, smatt-fld. and fragile plants little known 

 in cult. Species 1 



Subgenus II. TULIPA proper. Style lacking, the 



stigma sessile on the ovary. 

 A. Outer coat or tunic of bulb glabrous or practically 



so inside. Species 2-4 



AA. Outer bulb-coat or covering variously hairy on 



inside. 



B. Bulb-tunic always hairy at base inside around 

 root-crown, and usually with a few scattering 

 hairs above but sometimes without them. 



Species 5-13 

 BB. Bulb-tunic with a few oppressed hairs inside 



toward the top. Species 14-23 



BBB. Bulb-tunic with scattering oppressed hairs 



all over inside. Species 24-38 



AAA. Outer coat variously pubescent or woolly inside. 

 * B. Bulb-tunic pubescent inside, often densely so at 



apex. Species 39-42 



BB. Bulb-tunic woolly at base inside. Species 43-47 



BBB. Bulb-tunic everywhere woolly inside. Species 48-53 



Subgenus I. ORITHTA, small plants with a distinct style. 



1. dasystemon, Regel (Orithya dasystemon, Regel). 

 "Belongs to the Orithya section of the genus, which 



