Description
A rare, dwarf, mid-season species from Northern Iraq and Northern Iran with vivid scarlet flowers which have a deep purple-black basal blotch, occasionally bordered with a narrow ribbon of yellow. The 20cm tall stems each bear one, broadly chalice-shaped flower if such an intensity that they stand out from a great distance, held over broad glaucous leaves and springing from a bulb which is densely lined internally with yellow woolly hairs.
Considered to be a close relative of Tulipa stylosa (named by Otto Stapf from Iran in 1885) Tulipa stapfii was separated off and described in 1934 by Turrill and distinguished by being more robust with (perhaps not coincidentally) more leaves, crowded into a basal tuft.
Very growable under gardens conditions or in a pot, in view of its dwarf size, in a fertile, well-drained loam-based soil, lifted and cleaned every 2-3 years.
