364 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



There are few popular flowers in which some of 

 the old species are as highly esteemed as the most 

 modern varieties, but the Tulip is certainly a case in 

 point. Gesneriana and its yellow variety lutea both date 

 back more than three hundred years as cultivated plants, 

 and both are highly esteemed at the present day. The 

 species must have been named in compliment to 

 Conrad Gesner, who described some Tulips growing 

 in Austria in 1561. Mr. Murray says that these origin- 

 ated from seed carried from Turkey by Busbequius, 

 an ambassador sent by the Emperor Ferdinand I. to 

 the Sultan, and who saw Tulips for the first time in 

 Turkey in 1554. But he thinks that suaveolens, a dwarf 

 fragrant red and yellow species flowering in April, which 

 was introduced to Great Britain in 1603, and is illus- 

 trated in the Botanical Magazine, t. 839, must have been 

 seen among these seedling Turkish Tulips by Gesner 

 in view of his description of the flowers, because their 

 perfume is particularly mentioned, and there are few 

 fragrant Tulips. Busbequius himself commented on the 

 absence of perfume in the Tulips which he saw. 



The Tulip probably came from Persia, and it is 

 somewhat curious that the name can be traced from 

 the same Persian word, thoulyban, tulbend, or dubbend, as 

 gave " turban." The Persian used this word to describe 

 the nettlecloth worn by the Turks as a fez, probably 

 in allusion to the shape of the flower. The old name 

 for Tulip was Tulipan, and the descent of this from 

 thoulyban is easily followed. 



We see that the Tulip is an Oriental plant, and we 

 perceive Eastern splendour in the brilliance of its 

 flowers. The remarkably rich and glowing colours, 

 the large size and massive substance of the great 

 floral urns, the dusky sheen of some varieties, the 



