Tulipa wilsoniana - Botanical Tulip

Tulipa wilsoniana is a small botanical species of tulip with intense vermilion red flowers with a blue-black heart which are relatively large compared to its foliage. They bloom in late March or early April, amidst linear green-blue waxy-looking foliage. This wild plant hides a tough temperament and bulb beneath its dazzling flowers, inherited from the harsh conditions it encounters in the wild in its native mountains of Turkmenistan, at an altitude of 3000m (9842ft). It is perfectly hardy, adapted to summer drought, and can tolerate rocky and poor soils.

The Botanical Tulip wilsoniana belongs to the lily family. This small bulbous plant is native to Central Asia, where it grows in particularly difficult conditions. Simple and unpretentious, this little tulip develops from a thick bulb, covered with a very tough epidermis, with a woolly tip that protects a tender bud from the mountain rigours. When in flower, it will not exceed 15cm (6in) high. Its foliage, which sometimes emerges as early as January, is thin, greenish-grey, and covered with a waxy film that gives it a greyish or bluish appearance. The flowers appear in April, earlier or later depending on the climate, very close to the foliage. They are initially rounded then open up into round corollas with a diameter of 5cm (2in). They are a shiny poppy red with a very dark blue centre with golden yellow stamens. They open in the sun and close when it hides.

Botanical tulips do not degenerate over time like large-flowered tulips. They naturalise and remain in place for several years without any particular care, and thrive in borders and rockeries. To create colourful scenes, they can be associated with various small bulbous plants: crocuses, muscari, cyclamen coum, snowdrops, scillas... These tulips are unrivalled in bringing the colour of spring to pots or sunny gardens.

There are various wild species, many of which are endangered. In cultivation, they are called " botanical tulips ", and one of the most common is the wild tulip (Tulipa sylvestris), which often used to grow sheltered by vineyards and whose subspecies australis is known as the southern tulip.