Pictures of Tulips

Here are some selected pictures of tulips from 2006 Floriade at Canberra's Commonwealth Park. Floriade is Australia's premier spring festival and a world-class floral spectacular. Every year this park is is transformed into a tapestry of colour with more than a million bulbs and annuals in bloom.

Floriade runs for one month from mid September to mid October and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

If you are planning to visit Australia during September or October make sure you don't miss Canberra's famous Floriade.

• Kingdom: Plantae

• Division: Magnoliophyta

• Class: Liliopsida

• Order: Liliales

• Family:Liliaceae

• Genus:Tulipa

Tulips are perennial bulbous plants growing to 10-70 centimetres or 4-27 inches tall, with a small number of strap-shaped, waxy-textured, usually glaucous green leaves. and large flowers with six petals. Tulip is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Liliaceae.

I always associated tulips from Holland. Actually, I found out from my readings that Tulips are native to Central Asia and Turkey. Here are some interesting facts:

• In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkey and quickly became widely popular.
• Today Tulips are cultivated in Holland in great numbers and in huge fields. Dutch tulips are exported all around the worldthat is why people thinks that it originated from Holland.
• Many cultivated varieties were widely grown in Turkey long before they were introduced to European gardens.
• The flower was introduced in Western Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th century by Carolus Clusius, a famous biologist from Vienna.
• Carolus Clusius received some bulbs from his friend, Ogier de Busbecq, the Ambassador to Constantinople (presently Istanbul). He had seen the beautiful flower growing in the palace gardens and sent a few to Clusius for his garden in Leiden. He planted them and this was the beginning of the amazing bulb fields we see today.

In the 17th century the overgrown interest and high popularity of Tulips brought the so called "Tulipmania" in Holland.

• In 1637 bulbs were highly praised and prices gone up day by day reaching extraordinary numbers.
• Bulbs were sold by weight, usually while they were still in the ground. Some examples could cost more than a house at this time.
• The Dutch government unsuccessfully tried to outlaw this commerce but couldn't do anything to stop it, the trade was all about access and demand. But the end of the game came quick:
• Over-supply led to lower prices and dealers went bankrupt and many people lost their savings because of the trade and the tulip market crashed.

Tulips played an interesting role, in the Turkish history.

• The period in between 1718-1730 is called as the "Tulip Era", under the reign of sultan Ahmed III. This period is also expressed as an era of peace and enjoyment.
• Tulips became and important style of life within the arts, folklore and the daily life. Many embroidery and textile clothing handmade by woman, carpets, tiles, miniatures had tulip designs or shapes.
• Large tulip gardens around the Golden Horn were frequented by the rich and elite people.
• The Tulip Era was brought to an end after the Patrona Halil revolt in 1730, ending with the de-thronation of the Sultan.

• The botanical name for tulips, Tulipa, is derived from the Turkish word "tulbend" or "turban", which the flower resembles. It's considered as the King of Bulbs.
• Tulip (Tulipa) is the national flower of Turkey, Holland (The Netherlands) and Hungary.

ALL photographs are owned by MM del Rosario

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