498 



Liliacea Tulip a. 



of innumerable varieties, both single and double, and variously 

 coloured. It has tall slender stems, obtuse petals very often 

 striped with white or yellow upon a violet ground, or vice versa. 



T. suaveolens, the 

 Sweet or Van T.hol 

 Tulip, has short stout 

 stems, acute petals 

 scarlet or gold-colour- 

 ed, or the two colours 

 combined. It is quite 

 unknown as a wild 

 plant, but its nearest 

 allies are South Euro- 

 pean. T. Turcica, or 

 the Turkish Tulip, is 

 a cultivated form of 

 T. Bithynica, a native 

 of Asia Minor. The 

 petals of this form are 

 scarlet or yellow, and 

 more lanceolate, and 

 especially more acu- 

 minate, than in the 

 two foregoing. T. 

 pubescens (Clara- 

 mond, Brides of 

 Haarlem, and other 

 varieties) is a hybrid 

 between T. Gesneriana 

 and T. suaveolens, 



All Tulips are 

 worthy of cultivation ; 

 but nevertheless we 

 usually confine our- 

 selves to those species 

 and varieties which long culture has greatly improved, and 

 which are the progeny of the species above enumerated. At 

 least they are attributed to those three species, though we must 

 remember that the primitive characters are so radically changed 

 in many forms that it is exceedingly difficult to refer them to 

 the one or the other ; in fact, through intercrossing, the classi- 

 fication of certain varieties must remain purely arbitrary. 



Fig. 244. TuIIpa Gesneriana. 

 (J nat. size.) 



