Description
Flowers of rich currant-red, with the points of the slender segments slightly deflexed. The exterior of outer segments tinged crimson. Centre blackish with the thinnest of yellow margins. Foliage and stems slender. Flowering is late in May.
The Dutch firm of Van Tubergen raised this stock from bulbs supplied by the Baron Perrier de la Bathie at the beginning of the 20th Century. In a conversation of many years ago, the late Michael Hoog, told me that the Baron, who had a great interest in the neo-tulips of Savoy, had originally given van Tubergen just three bulbs.
T. didieri was endemic to Savoy, where it grew in two wild stations only, one near Aime and the other in ‘Les Clappeys’. Both of the known wild habitats have subsequently been destroyed by building for ski facilities, but the species survives in gardens. As recently as 2009 a few feral plants were rediscovered in the region, in an abandoned garden. Though not truly “wild”, the so-called “neo-Tulips” of France and Switzerland are probably ancient introductions of T. gesneriana dating as much as 500 years and are distinct from each other and unique.
Tulipa didieri