Tulipa orphanidea

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Tulipa orphanidea is a bulbous flowering plant in the lily family. It is native to the southeast Balkans, including Bulgaria, Greece, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and western Turkey.

Description
- Size: about 10–20 cm tall.
- Bulbs: roughly 20–47 mm long and 8–22 mm wide.
- Stem and leaves: the stem may be hairless or hairy; 2–7 leaves up to about 20 cm long and 2 cm wide, green with sometimes a reddish edge.
- Flowers: 1–4 per plant, globe- or star-shaped. Tepals are copper-red most of the time, but yellow and red forms exist. There is often a dark blotch at the base on the inside of the tepals.
- Measurements: outer tepals about 3–6 cm by 1–1.8 cm; inner tepals about 3–6 cm by 1.2–2.1 cm. The six stamens are dark olive and 7–12 mm long.
- Genetics: chromosome number is usually 2n = 36 (sometimes 24 or 48).
- Taxonomy: placed in subgenus Eriostemones. The species is very variable, and scientists have described many forms and subspecies over time.

Habitat and flowering season
- It grows in the southeast Balkans: Bulgaria, Greece, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and western Turkey.
- Typical habitats include Pinus nigra forests, fields, and roadsides, up to about 1,700 meters in altitude.
- It blooms from April to May.

Cultivation and gardeners
- Tulipa orphanidea has been grown as an ornamental plant since 1861.
- In cultivation, several color forms are stable, leading to cultivars in the Hageri Group and the Whittallii Group.
- An example is Tulipa orphanidea Hageri Group ‘Splendens’.
- The Whittallii Group cultivars, with burnt orange inner tepals and a black base blotch, have earned the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.