Description
This is known only in Armenia from an area of less the 500 square kilometres and it is considered endangered there, due to picking, for bouquets. It is also said to occur in Nakhichevan, south west Azerbaidjan and western Iran.
There are 3-4 leaves which are strongly falcate (sabre-shaped) and narrow with wavy edges and are beautifully glaucous. The topmost leaf is slender and upright. The flowers are held on 10-20cm stems and their colour is variable. Most of our plants are yellow, though this is apparently the rarer form in the wild stations. Some of the yellows have a black or near-black zone in the throat however some yellow-flowered plants lack this. A few of our plants are red-flowered and these almost all have a black zone. This variability is known and documented, it is normal for the species. The pink plants illustrated as this species on the internet, are not within the known variability and may not relate to this species at all.
Tulipa florenskyi is thought to most resemble T. julia however the bulb tunic of T. florenskyi is densely lined with straight, coarse hairs and the falcate leaf shape differs as well as the undulate and cartilaginous edge of its leaves. The shape of the throat zones also differs between the two species which although perhaps related, would never be mistaken for each other.
Cultivated stock from seed traceable originally to a small area around Meghri, in Armenia at between 500 and 1,000m altitude. The plants shown are some of the stock offered which is variable, We do not have colour separated plants.
