Tulipa clusiana, DC. Tulipa gesnerana, L. Tulipa boeotica, Boiss. & Heldr.

7. T. clusiana DC. View in CoL in Redouté, Liliacées 1: t. 37 (1802).

Bulb 20-35 x 10-25 mm; tunics usually numerous, coriaceous, lined inside in the upper half with long, undulate or rather setiform hairs forming a felt which protrudes from the neck. Leaves 3-5, up to 28 x 1*7 cm, linear-lanceolate to linear, canaliculate, the uppermost much smaller than the others. Flowers solitary, erect in bud; perianth white, the segments with a small, basal, oblong, purplish blotch inside; outer segments 32-60 x 6-18 mm, lanceolate-elliptical to elliptical, subacute, tinged with pinkish- crimson outside, the inner 25-50 x 8-17 mm, oblong-oblanceolate to obovate, obtuse. Filaments 6-9 mm; anthers 4*5-11 mm. Capsule c. 10 x 7 mm. In = 48, 56. In and around cultivated land. Naturalized in S. Europe. [Ga Gr Hs It Lu.] (Iran to N. Pakistan.)

8. T. gesnerana L. , Sp. Pl. 306 (1753)

( T. didieri Jordan , T. suaveolens sensu Hayek , non Roth).

Bulb-tunics papery or rather coriaceous, subglabrous or with a few straight hairs inside towards the apex. Stems 30-55 cm, glabrous or finely pubescent. Leaves 2-5(-7), up to 30 x 6*5 cm, elliptic-oblong to lanceolate, the uppermost linear-lanceolate or linear. Perianth scarlet, orange, yellow or purplish, sometimes ‘broken’, the segments with or without a dark basal blotch inside; outer segments 45-75 x 18-32 mm, lanceolate to elliptical, acute or subacute, the inner 38-82 x 21-41 mm, elliptic-oblanceolate to oblanceolate or obovate, obtuse, often shortly apiculate. Filaments 6-14 mm; anthers 8*5-15 mm. Mainly in and around cultivated land. Locally naturalized, mainly in S. W. Europe. [Ga?Gr He Hs It.] (Origin uncertain; widespread in S.W. & S.C. Asia, but mainly in and around cultivated land.)

A complex species or group from which the majority of garden tulip cultivars has been derived. There appears to be a great overlap of characters, making the circumscription of taxa difficult. Several variants found in S. France, Switzerland and Italy have in the past been given specific status but are considered here as clones. The popularity of the garden tulip led to a great influx of importations into this area from S.W. & S.C. Asia from the 15th century onwards, and numerous variants were selected and reselected to give a wide range of form and colour. Some of these were subsequently naturalized in the area mentioned, aided by their vigorous capacity for vegetative reproduction, and later became known as the Neo-tulipae. No certainly wild counterpart has yet been identified although similar plants occur in S.W. & S.C. Asia. The name T. gesnerana L. , presumably applied to a plant of similar origin, is used here for this complex.

The following 3 taxa, related to 8, are apparently native, but they are not clearly separable from each other, nor from 8, and their status is altogether uncertain.

T. hungarica Borbas , Földmüv. Érdek. 10: 561 (1882), a robust plant with large leaves, the lowest up to 30(-37) x 5*7(-7*8) cm, perianth-segments (42-)50-105 x (18-)22-48 mm, yellow, without a basal blotch, and anthers 10-16 mm, grows on limestone rocks in the gorge of the Danube, above the Iron Gates, in S.W. Romania and N.E. Jugoslavia. It has In - 24.

T. urumoffi Hayek , Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 61: (110) (1911) ( T. rhodopea (Velen.) Velen. ), with the stem (15-)20-29 cm, glabrous, leaves up to 16x4 cm, perianth-segments 35-60 x 17- 26 mm, yellow or red, with or without a basal blotch, and anthers 7-10 mm, grows in S. Bulgaria (E. & C. Rodopi). It has 2zz = 24.

T. schrenkii Regel , Acta Horti Petrop. 2: 452 (1881), a dwarf plant with stem 7-16(-24) cm, finely pubescent or glabrous, leave« up to 11 *5 x 2*2 cm, finely pubescent or glabrous, flowers crimsonscarlet, yellow or white, perianth-segments 25-55 x 12-21 mm, usually with a basal blotch, and anthers 5*5-9 mm, grows in steppes and semi-deserts in the S.E. part of U.S.S.R.

9. T. boeotica Boiss. & Heldr. View in CoL in Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Or. Nov. 3(4): 99 (1859)

( T. scardica Bornem. ).

Bulb-tunics with a few straight hairs inside towards the apex. Stem 17*5-38(-50) cm, finely pubescent, or glabrous. Leaves 3-4, the lower 2 up to 19 x 2*5 cm, lanceolate, with an undulate margin. Perianth scarlet, the segments with a large, basal, yellow-edged, black blotch inside; outer segments 28-69 x 11-21 mm, elliptical, longacuminate, the inner 30-67 x 12-22 mm, elliptic-oblanceolate to oblanceolate, long-acuminate or apiculate. Filaments 6-13 mm; anthers 7-16 mm. 2« = 24. Cultivated fields and rocky places. S. part of Balkan peninsula. Gr Ju Tu.

A characteristic species of wheat-fields. Perhaps conspecific with T. undulatifolia Boiss. , op. cit. 1(5): 57 (1844), from W. Anatolia.