Tulip: I am extremely beautiful and priceless, all because of a "serious illness"

The first time I planted tulips was in December, and they were reluctant to sprout. This made me very impatient. I went to check every few days and even dug up the soil. In the soil, they were fine, not rotten or broken, but just not moving. It was not until I looked at the genus name of tulips (Tulipa) that I suddenly realized that they were called "soil lying" (fog).

Some of the tulips I have planted | Frost moth

Now, many botanical gardens and flower expo parks are gradually welcoming the peak season for viewing the sea of ​​tulips. There are always tourists who like to pluck socialist flowers; some may pluck them home to put in a vase, while others are even worse, pluck them out and play with them, then throw them on the side of the road. But in the Netherlands in the early 17th century, if someone threw tulips randomly, he must be a madman.

Tulips that fascinate the Dutch

In the early 17th century, although tulips had only been in the Netherlands for a dozen years, they were already a very popular flower. At that time, people generally liked tulips with special patterns on the petals, which were either flame-shaped or feather-shaped, with various shapes and colors, and were gorgeous and colorful. People flocked to this type of tulip and cultivated many popular varieties, such as the famous "Viceroy".

From November 1636, the Dutch tulip market was in a frenzy, and the price of tulips soared. From nobles and wealthy businessmen to farmers, craftsmen, and servants, people from all walks of life put down their work and plunged into the nationwide speculation frenzy, "like flies around a honey pot."

"Semper Augustus" was the most valuable variety at the time｜Iker Paz Studio / redbubble.com

The price of tulips reached its peak in February 1637. Popular varieties such as the Governor's were sold for 2,500 florins per bulb in 1635, and rose to 4,200 florins in 1637. At that time, a ton of butter was worth 96 florins, eight fat pigs could be sold for 240 florins, and a skilled craftsman could earn up to 350 florins a year. At that time, trade in the Netherlands was in its golden age, and the purchasing power of one florin was equivalent to 11.5 euros in 2016.

A 'Governor' bulb costs up to 2500 guilders | slideplayer.com

Tulips were no longer just ornamental flowers in the garden; they became currency. Many people became rich, and more people believed that everyone would become rich, that the Netherlands would eliminate poverty, and become the world's economic center.

Soon, the country

Just like the flower language of tulips in the Netherlands, "short-lived", this bubble burst in February 1637. The tulip merchants who hoarded a large number of bulbs found that they could no longer find buyers because the buyers could not afford the inflated prices; the original old customers also tore up the order contracts. The price of tulips plummeted. Merchants began to ask the government for help, and the government responded that the buyer only needed to pay 10% of the contract price. Even if he did not pay, the government could not enforce it because the way these contracts were signed was similar to gambling and had no legal effect. So in the end, the unlucky ones were these merchants who hoarded goods.

When merchants were obsessed with the beauty and high prices of tulips, they probably didn’t think of the shadow behind them｜Eagle Dance/Official Account “Bird Life”

This was the world's first economic bubble, known in economics as "Tulip mania". Although the damage to the Dutch economic system may not be as great as the legend, it did hit the Dutch people's fragile hearts hard, and they had to re-examine the word "value". The former president of the Dutch Central Bank once used the tulip incident to evaluate Bitcoin transactions: "At least you would get a bulb back then, but now you get nothing."

Hundreds of years later, people discovered that the gorgeous patterns on the petals of those popular tulip varieties came from a virus infection called Tulip breaking virus, which is spread by aphids. Although it gives the petals beautiful patterns, it also causes the plant bulbs to degenerate. In this "craze", both people and flowers seem a little sick.

A satirical painting by the Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Younger in 1640 on the tulip craze, in which groups of monkeys in clothing traded tulips. Wikipedia

Central Asia is the home of tulips

However, the Dutch have always had a deep love for tulips. For hundreds of years, they have continued the tradition of large-scale commercial planting and careful cultivation of new varieties. Today, the Netherlands is the world's largest commercial producer of tulips, with an average annual output of more than 4 billion bulbs. Viral and exaggerated varieties have been abandoned and replaced by varieties with more stable traits. The temperate maritime climate with warm winters and cool summers also provides unique conditions for the large-scale planting of modern tulips.

Keukenhof Park near Amsterdam is the world's largest tulip attraction｜amsterdamcitytours.com

The native land of wild tulips is in Central Asia, where the alpine meadows are sunny, cool and dry, which is the most favorable climate for tulips. The cultivation of tulips began in the Seljuk Empire in the 10th century, but the Seljuks at that time did not like to carry out the laborious breeding work, so they dug them up directly from the wild and planted them. The Seljuk Empire's westward expedition extended its territory to the present-day Turkey, and also brought tulips from Central Asia there, and widely planted them in Asia Minor.

The heyday of the Ottoman Empire is also known as the "Tulip Age". Tulips were given sacred religious meanings. They were not only planted in every corner of the empire, but were also widely used in decorative patterns such as tiles, fabrics, and pottery. People began to cultivate new varieties, but Sultan Selim still liked to collect wild tulips in large quantities from other conquered areas to decorate their private gardens. There are about 18 species of tulips in Turkey today, only 7 of which are native to Turkey. The others were either brought in during the Seljuk period or collected during the Ottoman period.

Turkish style tiles｜nomadicsonblog / wordpress

Ferdinand I's diplomats brought tulips from the Ottoman Empire to the Royal Medicinal Garden in Vienna. The head of the garden was a botanist named Carolus Clusius, who immediately began to study this exotic flower and soon discovered the beautiful unstable patterns on the petals. In 1593, he was appointed professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He built a private tulip garden and teaching garden on campus, cultivated many coveted varieties, and also attracted thieves. Hundreds of precious bulbs with viruses were stolen and spread. Everyone knows what happened next.

Virus tulips are a symbol of still life painting in the Dutch Golden Age｜wga.hu

Plant tulips, many options available

There are more than 4,000 varieties of tulips, most of which are classified under the scientific name Tulipa x gesneriana. This hybrid itself is the result of repeated crosses between early wild tulips and cultivated tulips. No one knows exactly which parents it is.

The Junggar tulip T. schrenkii is distributed from Central Asia to Türkiye and is considered one of the most likely parents of the modern tulip｜VisionPictures

Modern tulips are roughly divided into 15 groups based on flower shape and flowering time. Among them, the Rembrandt Group is particularly special, named after the Dutch painter Rembrandt (although he himself is not famous for painting flowers). Tulips in this group are similar to the former virus tulips, with beautiful and changing patterns on the petals, but these traits are the result of long-term directional breeding, not virus infection, and are more stable and better controlled. Currently, the Netherlands prohibits the export of virus-infected bulbs, and this virus is also the subject of strict inspection by quarantine departments in various countries.

Modern Rembrandt tulips｜whiteflowerfarm.com

There are 10 species of tulips in China, mainly distributed in Xinjiang, but none of them is the parent of modern cultivated tulips. Due to climatic reasons, modern cultivated tulips are not very good at re-flowering in most parts of my country and can only be used as disposable flowers: planted in autumn, blooming in spring, and the bulbs are thrown away after blooming, and new ones are planted in autumn. It doesn't matter for balcony potted plants, but for people with gardens, this is a big project.

Ili tulip T. iliensis, native to China｜silkadv.com

Species Tulip can make up for this shortcoming to a certain extent. They are classified as the Miscellaneous Group among 15 groups, including wild species of the genus Tulip and improved horticultural varieties. The plants in this group are short and single-petaled, and the visual effect may not be as good as other groups, but they have better re-flowering ability (for my country).

Dwarf tulip T.humilis belongs to the "other group" with good re-flowering ability｜vanengelen.com

Many people like double-petal tulips because they are large and gorgeous, with overlapping petals and bold shapes, similar to peonies. But I personally appreciate the symmetrical beauty of flowers. The petals of double-petal tulips are too messy and easily deformed. In addition, they have a fatal weakness: the double petals make the flower heads too heavy. During the flowering period, any light rain can make them eat mud and crawl with ants and snails, making them unworthy of being cut flowers.

Double late-flowering group "Angelique"｜longfield-gardens.com

Fine wine? Not the tulips you know

The Chinese name "tulip" originally refers to a kind of wine. It originated in the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai wrote in a poem: "Lanling fine wine tulip, amber light in a jade bowl." This refers to it. The fragrance of this wine mainly comes from the spices of the genus Curcuma in the ginger family. One of them is called Curcuma aromatica, which not only adds fragrance, but also dyes the wine into curry color. It has a very long history. It was recorded in the "Zhou Li" and was called "chang [chàng]", which was often used for sacrifices. In the 19th century, Japanese botanists directly applied "tulip" to Tulip, and this name was passed back to China and is still used today.

This is the real tulip flower｜goldentakin / wikipedia

It should be noted that the bulbs of tulips are slightly toxic, so do not mistake them for onions. Friends who have pets at home should be more careful, as tulips are deadly to cats, dogs and horses. Someone once shared a tragic experience about tulips. Her beloved cat accidentally ate the tulips she brought home to put in a vase, which resulted in severe kidney failure. There was no way to save it, so it had to be euthanized.

Cat: I don’t like it! ｜pixabay

Author: Frost Moth

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