Tulip is a Eurasian and North African genus of herbaceous, perennial, bulbous plants in the lily family, with the show. Plants typically have two to six leaves, some species up to 12.
The tulip’s leaf is strap-shaped, with a waxy coating, and the leaves are alternately arranged on the stem; these fleshy blades are often bluish green in color.
Most tulips produce only one flower per stem, but a few species bear multiple flowers on their scapes.
The general cup or star-shaped tulip flower has three petals and three sepals, which are often termed tepals because they are nearly identical.
These six tepals are often marked on the interior surface near the bases with darker colorings.
The Tulip is a classic flower of love, although it was considered more of a symbol for charity by the Victorians.
The Turkish people who originally bred the flower considered it a symbol of paradise on earth, making it a part of many religious and secular poems and art pieces.
While the Ottoman Empire planted the bulbs to remind them of heaven and eternal life, the Dutch that popularized the flower considered it a reminder of how brief life can be instead.
The link to love and passion developed primarily in the 20th and 21st centuries, but that doesn’t detract from the strength of the symbolism behind this flower.
The flower has been in cultivation since the 13th century, but it really took off in the 1600s when Turkish traders introduced it to the Dutch.
The Tulip crazes in the 17th century became so fevered that the bulbs were traded as currency and theft of the flowers triggered harsh penalties.
Now the bulbs are available in grocery and home improvement stores for a just a few dollars.
