Tulipa sprengeri

Tulipa sprengeri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Subfamily: Lilioideae
Genus: Tulipa
Subgenus: Tulipa subg. Eriostemones
Species:
T. sprengeri
Binomial name
Tulipa sprengeri
Baker
     It is endemic to Amasya, Turkey[1]
Synonyms[2]

Tulipa brachyanthera Freyn

Tulipa sprengeri, the Sprenger's tulip,[3] is a species of perennial, bulbous plant[3] in the family Liliaceae endemic to Amasya, Turkey.[2] It was long considered extinct in the wild,[3][2][4] but was rediscovered in June 2026 by Ercan Eftelioglu after 130 years in a rural area of Amasya, Turkey.[1] It is cultivated as an ornamental plant.[3]

Description

Sprenger's tulip

Vegetative characteristics

Tulipa sprengeri is a 30–40(–50) cm tall,[5] perennial, bulbous plant[3] with small, ovoid,[6] 3–4 cm long bulbs bearing brown, papery, glabrous or adaxially slightly pubescent tunics.[5] The 4–[6]6 glabrous,[5] lanceolate,[3] shiny green leaves[1] are channelled.[5] The lower leaves are 29–35 cm long, and 2.3–3.2 cm wide and the upper leaves are 22–34 cm long, and 1.1–2.1 cm wide.[5]

Generative characteristics

The solitary flower, held on a 18–29 cm long, and 0.4–0.5 cm wide,[5] erect, glabrous peduncle,[6] have upright and bright green buds.[5] The bright red perianth without a basal blotch[7] is campanulate.[6] The obovate tepals are long and pointed, the oblong-elliptic outer tepals slightly shorter and light brown or yellowish on the outside, sometimes there is a green seam along the midrib, widening towards the tip. They are very narrow on the base, often leaving a gap. The flower itself is funnel-, later star-shaped. The filaments are glabrous, bright red at the top, pale yellow at base, 19–22 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide at tip, the swollen base is 3–4 mm wide.[5] The anthers are yellow.[8] The cylindrical, green ovary bears a small stigma.[6]

Cytology

It is diploid.[9]

Taxonomy

It was first described by J. Gilbert Baker in 1894 in The Gardeners' Chronicle.[6][10] The type specimen was collected in 1892 by the German gardener Mühlendorff in Amasya, Turkey.[5] The plant was introduced to Europe by the German gardener Mühlendorff in 1892, who discovered it near Amasya. It is named after Carl Sprenger, a commercial gardener, who also published a description of the plant.[11] Mühlendorff sent bulbs to the nursery of Damman&Cie near Naples in Italy, which then supplied numerous bulbs to European gardeners between 1895 and 1898.[12] The Armenian teacher J. J. Manissadijan from Merzifon supplied bulbs to the Dutch company Van Tubergen[8] and John Hoog.[5] Too many bulbs were taken from the wild, and the plant was believed to have become extinct.[12] The Englishman Edward Whittall from İzmir seems to have supplied Damman & Sprenger as well.[12]

Although it had been previously placed in the subgenus Tulipa subg. Tulipa based on morphology, it is now placed in the subgenus Tulipa subg. Eriostemones based on genetic analyses.[13]

Distribution and habitat

There are no descriptions of the wild habitat of the plant.[12]

Conservation

It was long considered extinct in the wild,[3][2][4] but it has been rediscovered in June 2026.[14] Sprenger's tulip is grown in over 30 Botanical gardens, among them Kew, Kopenhagen, Bonn and Edinburgh,[12] it is also widely available from commercial nurseries.[15]

The Atatürk Arboretum in Istanbul has initiated a reintroduction project in co-operation with Kew Gardens.[12] Genetic studies have shown that the tulips grown at Kew have retained a relatively wide genetic diversity.[12] The story of the single misplaced bulb supplied by J. J. "Manissaadjian" to Van Tubergen [16] therefore seems spurious.

Cultivation

Sprenger's tulip is easy to grow.[17] It can be naturalised. It also successfully self-seeds, the seeds need to be stratified. The plant needs only four years till flowering-stage. The plant needs a sunny but not too hot or semi-shady position. It should be planted 10–15 cm deep in well-drained, fairly fertile, humus-rich but not too dry soil. It may need protection from strong winds, but is frosthardy to - 10 °C, as long as the soil is not waterlogged or excessively wet. The plant tends to root very deeply.[16] It received the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1948[5] and 1993.[18]

It rarely hybridizes because of the late flowering time.[5] The bulbs dislike being disturbed and are difficult to move.[5] The plant is susceptible to aphids.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lost Amasya tulip rediscovered in Türkiye after 130 years. (2026, June 13). Türkiye Today. https://www.turkiyetoday.com/lifestyle/lost-amasya-tulip-rediscovered-in-turkiye-after-130-years-3221803
  2. 1 2 3 4 Tulipa sprengeri Baker. (n.d.). Plants of the World Online. Retrieved June 26, 2026, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:543088-1
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wiens, A. (2020). Tulipa sprengeri: The Long Lost Tulip. University of Minnesota
  4. 1 2 ThreatSearch. (n.d.). Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Retrieved June 26, 2026, from https://tools.bgci.org/threat_search.php?action=Find&ftrFamily=&ftrGenus=Tulipa+&ftrSpecies=sprengeri&ftrInfraSpecName=&ftrBGCI_Scope=&ftrAssessmentYear=&x=53&y=11#results
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Wilford, R., & Fay, M. F. (2007). 597. Tulipa sprengeri: Liliaceae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 24(4), 211-216.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 J. Gilbert Baker, Tulipa sprengeri, Garden Chronicle ser. 3, 15, 1894, 716
  7. ↑ Richard Wilford, Tulips. Species and Hybrids for the Gardener. Portland, Timber Press 2006, 148
  8. 1 2 Anna Pavord, The Tulip. London, Bloomsbury 1999, 333
  9. ↑ W. C. F. Newton, Chromosome Studies in Tulipa and some related Genera. Linnean Journal of Botany 48, 1926, 341
  10. ↑ Tulipa sprengeri Baker. (n.d.-b). International Plant Names Index. Retrieved June 26, 2026, from https://www.ipni.org/n/543088-1
  11. ↑ Carl Sprenger, Tulipa sprengeri. Gartenflora 44, 1895, 57–58
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Maunder, M., Cowan, R. S., Stranc, P., & Fay, M. F. (2001). The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics, 2(3), 193-201.
  13. ↑ Christenhusz, M. J., Govaerts, R., David, J. C., Hall, T., Borland, K., Roberts, P. S., ... & Fay, M. F. (2013). Tiptoe through the tulips–cultural history, molecular phylogenetics and classification of Tulipa (Liliaceae). Botanical journal of the Linnean Society, 172(3), 280-328.
  14. ↑ Historical discovery in Amasya! The lost “Missing Turkish Tulip,” missing for 130 years, has reappeared. (2026, June 12). Haberler.com. Retrieved June 26, 2026, from https://en.haberler.com/historical-discovery-in-amasya-the-lost-missing-2267892/
  15. ↑ Martyn Rix, Curtis's Botanical Magazine 24/4, 2007, 205
  16. 1 2 Tulipa Species Four. (n.d.). Pacific Bulb Society. Retrieved June 26, 2026, from https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/TulipaSpeciesFour
  17. ↑ Richard Wilford, Tulips. Species and Hybrids for the Gardener. Portland, Timber Press 2006, 147
  18. ↑ "Tulipa sprengeri". www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tulipa sprengeri.
Wikispecies logo
Wikispecies has information related to Tulipa sprengeri.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.