TULIPA GESNERIANA-TULIP 



CLASS, HEXANDRIA ; ORDER, MONOGYNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, LILIACE^E. 



GEN. CHAR. Corolla, six petalled. Style none. Stigma thick. 

 Capsule oblong, three-sided. SPEC. CHAR. Stem one flowered, 

 sleek, without down, many colored, erect flower. Petals, obtuse. 

 Leaves lanceovate. 



This gay flower, having been obtained from the Turks, was called 

 TULIPA, from the resemblance of its coralla to the eastern head- 

 dress, called Tulipan or Turban, and from hence our name of 

 TULIP, as well as that of the French, TULIPE, the Italian, TULIP ANO, 

 and the German, TULPE. Moore alludes to this similarity in his 

 Lalla Kookh. 



What triumph crowds the rich Divan to day, 

 With turbaned heads of every hue and race , 

 Bowing before that veiled and awful face, 

 Like TULIP-BEDS of different shape and dyes, 

 Bending th' invisible west wind's sighs. 



Conrad Gesner, the German Pliny, was the first one who gave a 

 description of the Tulip ; and from its having been known in his 

 works, it was properly named after him. The Criterion of a perfect 

 Tulip of the late flowering kind, is that the stem should be strong, 



elastic, and erect, and about thirty inches above the surface of the 

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