TULIP' A SYLVES'TRIS. 
WILD TULIP. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
TULIPACE-ffi. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Inhabits 
England. 
15 inches. 
April, May. 
Perennial . 
Chalky pi, 
No. 488. 
Our beautiful garden Tulip is a native of Persia, 
and from its native country it carried with it a like- 
ness of its original name — Thoulyban or Tulipan. 
This is the Persian name of a turban, and its appli- 
cation needs no comment. Sylvestris, from the 
Latin, sylva, a wood, marks the species under con- 
sideration, as an inhabitant of such situations. We 
have never discovered this plant in its native re- 
treat; but from its habitats, as registered by English 
botanists, the name sylvestris is not peculiarly ap- 
plicable. Old chalk pits are chiefly named as the 
situation where it has been discovered as an English 
plant. Some botanists doubt whether it may not 
originally have escaped from garden cultivation, but 
of this we can offer no opinion. There appears no 
doubt, however, of its having been known to Gerard, 
through his “ Loving friend. Master James Garrett,” 
previously to 1597. Two sorts, which he mentions, 
he distinguishes as the Italian and the French. From 
his description of these, both are of the same spe- 
cies, and identical with our sylvestris, a circumstance 
w hich tends to weaken its claim to the honour of be- 
ing one of England’s aboriginal inhabitants. 
Class. 
HEXANDRIA. 
