Tulipa cultivars Hort.
Hybrid tulips descended from the original tulips introduced into European gardens since about 1554, but often known in Macarthur’s time as Tulipa gesneriana, the ‘Garden tulip’. Tulips are bulbous plants with linear to broadly ovate leaves and, in most garden forms, a single cup-shaped flower in a range of colours, each flower consisting of 6 tepals in single varieties. Double forms are also grown. The only plant specifically mentioned in the record had yellow flowers.
Horticultural & Botanical History
‘This well known and popular ornament of our gardens, is a native of certain districts of the Turkish dominions, and appears to have been first brought from Constantinople to Vienna, about the middle of the sixteenth century; from thence it has found its way to the rest of Europe. […] Tulipomania, which, about the middle of the seventeenth-century, seized nearly the whole of the Low-Countries, […] gave rise to a system of stock-jobbing and speculation, nearly equal in extent, and similar in consequences, to that produced by the well-known South-Sea delusion in our own country. With this infatuation, however, we must not confound the value set upon the plant by the Florist, by whom it has been cultivated for his amusement, and on account of its beauty; this seems to have maintained the usual level, and never to have risen to a pitch beyond that which other favourite and ornamental species have attained.’ [BM t.1135/1808].
Florist’s Tulip: ‘The flower large, and composed of six petals; these should proceed horizontally at the base, and then turn upwards in the form of a goblet – rather widest at the top. The three exterior petals larger than the interior ones; the edge of the petals well rounded, or with a little indenture at the top. The ground colour of the flower at the bottom of the cup perfect white or yellow; and the various colours, whether stripes, flames, feathers or blotches, should be very regular, or bold and distinct, or else elegantly pencilled.’ [FC p132/1855].
History at Camden Park
Macarthur sent bulbs of yellow tulip to Mr. Newman of Van Diemens Land in 1846. Tulips require cold stratification to flower successfully in a garden and Macarthur had difficulty growing this plant.
Notes
Published Apr 23, 2009 - 04:58 PM | Last updated Jul 25, 2010 - 04:31 PM
Tulipa gesneriana L. | BM t.1135/1808 | BHL | This flower is of the type highly prized in the 16th and 17th centuries. It has ‘broken’ to produce maroon flaming on the white ground colour.
| Family | Liliaceae |
|---|---|
| Category |
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| Region of origin | Garden origin, Europe |
| Synonyms |
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| Common Name | Florists’ Tulip, Garden Tulip |
| Name in the Camden Park Record | Yellow Tulip |
| Confidence level | high |