The Tulip. Wild and tempting

Nowadays we know the tulip as one of the most appealing flowers on earth. A real Dutch flower, too, although its origin lies far from here. Since the second half of the seventeenth century the tulip was scattered over Europe and at the end of that century it rooted thoroughly in the soil and the society of the Low Countries. From that moment on, Holland and the cultivated tulip are one.

The origins
Tulips are bulbs from western Eurasia. Their natural habitat stretches along a climatic belt running from Spain and Morocco to the Western Himalayan ranges. Most wild species are found in the Caucasus and in the Central Asian Pamir Alay and Tien Shan mountains.
Most species are adapted to climates with hot, dry summers, and severe winters; spring is the only possible growing season. To survive drought and cold, tulips hibernate and aestivate underground. Bulbs can better withstand freezing and desiccation; and with every inch below ground, fluctuations in temperature and humidity decrease, as compared to that of the atmosphere.
As a result of this strategy, tulips are invisible for nine months of the year. In the remaining three months, the life cycle must be completed: from the appearance of the first green leaves to flowering, seed set and the production of clonal offshoots (lateral bulbils). For a few short weeks in spring, the mountain slopes of Central Asia are spectacularly swathed in the reds or yellows of wild tulip blooms.