Tulipa sprengeri

Tulipa sprengeri, or Sprenger's tulip, is a wild tulip from the Pontic coast of Turkey. It is quite rare and possibly extinct in the wild,[1] but widely cultivated as an ornamental.

Tulipa sprengeri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Liliales
Family:	Liliaceae
Genus:	Tulipa
Subgenus:	Tulipa subg. Eriostemones
Species:	T. sprengeri
Binomial name
Tulipa sprengeri Baker
Synonyms
Tulipa brachyanthera Freyn

Daniel Hall put it into the Kolpakowskiana group,[2] later in the "solitary species".[3] Wessel Marais placed it in section Tulipa because of its naked filament.[4] Genetically, it seems to belong to the section Eriostemones, even if it does not have a hairy filament, normally seen as a defining characteristic, whereas glabrous filaments are typical of the Tulipa-group.[5] It is diploid.[6] The locus typicus is Amasya.

Sprenger's tulip

Identification and synonyms

The plant is easy to identify.
Synonyms:

• T. brachyanthera Frey., described by Josef Franz Freyn in 1896[7] collected by J. J. Manissadjian in Amasya in 1894.[8]

Description

The tunic of the bulb is papery, glabrous, chestnut-coloured and only slightly hairy near the stem. The five to six leaves are linear-lanceolate, channeled, bright green and up to 25 cm long. The stem is 20-30, sometimes up to 40 cm long. There is only one flower per bulb, the buds are upright and bright green.[9] The flower is bright red without a basal blotch.[10] The obovate tepals are long and pointed, the oblong-elliptic outer tepals slightly shorter and light brown or yellowish on the outside, sometimes there is a green seem along the midrib, widening towards the tip. They are very narrow on the base, often leaving a gap. The flower itself is funnel-, later star-shaped. The filaments are glabrous, bright red at the top, pale yellow at base, 19–22 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide at tip, the swollen base is 3–4 mm wide.[11] The anthers are yellow.[12] In England, it flowers in May and early June, the latest of the species tulips. The flowering time in the wild is unknown.

History

The plant was introduced to Europe by the German gardener Mühlendorff in 1892, who discovered it near Amasya. It is named after Carl Sprenger, a commercial gardener, who also published a description of the plant.[13] The first scientific description was produced by J. Gilbert Baker in 1894 in The Gardeners' Chronicle.[14] Mühlendorff sent bulbs to the nursery of Damman&Cie near Naples in Italy, which then supplied numerous bulbs to European gardeners between 1895 and 1898.[15] The Armenian teacher J. J. Manissadijan from Merzifon supplied bulbs to the Dutch company Van Tubergen[16] and John Hoog.[17] He also sold other rare plants, like Iris gatesii to Dutch commercial gardeners.[18] Obviously, too many bulbs were taken from the wild, and the plant became extinct.[19] Later, he had to flee the country.[20] The Englishman Edward Whittall from Izmir seems to have supplied Damman & Sprenger as well.[21] No wild plants have been recorded since the First World War.[22]

There are no descriptions of the wild habitat of the plant.[23] Sprenger's tulip is grown in over 30 Botanical gardens, among them Kew, Kopenhagen, Bonn and Edinburgh,[24] it is also widely available from commercial nurseries. M. Rix believes that it may yet be rediscovered in the wild.[25]

The Atatürk Arboretum in Istanbul has initiated a reintroduction project in co-operation with Kew Gardens.[26] Genetic studies have shown that the tulips grown at Kew have retained a relatively wide genetic diversity.[27] The story of the single misplaced bulb supplied by J. J. "Manissaadjian" to Van Tubergen [28] therefore seems spurious.

Cultivation

Sprenger's tulip is easy to grow.[29] It can be naturalised. It also successfully self-seeds, the seeds need to be stratified. The plant needs only four years till flowering-stage. The plant needs a sunny but not too hot or semi-shady position. It should be planted 10–15 cm deep in well-drained, fairly fertile, humus-rich but not too dry soil. It may need protection from strong winds, but is frosthardy to - 10 °C, as long as the soil is not waterlogged or excessively wet. The plant tends to root very deeply and can thus be difficult to eradicate.[30] It received the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1948 [31] and 1993.[32] It rarely hybridizes because of the late flowering time.[33] The bulbs dislike being disturbed and are difficult to move.[34] The plant suffers excessively from aphids.

References

1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. Daniel Hall, Polyploidy in Tulips, Linnean Journal of Botany 50, 1936, 488
3. Daniel Hall, The Genus Tulipa, 1940
4. Wessel Marais, Tulipa L. In: Peter Hadland Davis; R. R Mill; Kit Tan (eds.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands 8, Edinburgh University Press 1984, 302-311
5. Michael F. Fay, Katherine Borland, Stranc, P., Chase, M. W. 2001, Phylogenetics of the genus Tulipa (Liliaceae): evidence from five plastid DNA regions. Botany 2001 Abstracts, 112 (http://www.botany2001.org/botany2001b.pdf); Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Rafaël Govaerts, John C. David, Tony Hall, Katherine Borland, Penelope S. Roberts, Anne Tuomisto, Sven Buerki, Mark W. Chase, Michael F. Fay, Tiptoe through the tulips – cultural history, molecular phylogenetics and classification of Tulipa (Liliaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 172, 2013, 289, but compare Mine Turktaş, Özge Karakaş Metin, Berk Baştuğ, Fahriye Ertuğrul, Yasemin Izgi Saraç, Erdal Kaya, Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Tulipa (Liliaceae) based on noncoding plastid and nuclear DNA sequences with an emphasis on Turkey. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 172, 2013, 270–279 for different results
6. W. C. F. Newton, Chromosome Studies in Tulipa and some related Genera. Linnean Journal of Botany 48, 1926, 341
7. Josef Freyn, Über neue und bemerkenswerthe orientalische Pflanzenarten, Bulletin de l’Herbier Boissier 4, 1896, 187
8. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 211
9. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 212
10. Richard Wilford, Tulips. Species and Hybrids for the Gardener. Portland, Timber Press 2006, 148
11. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 215
12. Anna Pavord, The Tulip. London, Bloomsbury 1999, 333
13. Carl Sprenger, Tulipa sprengeri. Gartenflora 44, 1895, 57–58
14. J. Gilbert Baker, Tulipa sprengeri, Garden Chronicle ser. 3, 15, 1894, 716
15. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 194
16. Anna Pavord, The Tulip. London, Bloomsbury 1999, 332
17. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 211
18. Mentioned, for example, by Joseph Freyn, Über neue und bemerkenswerthe orientalische Pflanzenarten, Bulletin de l’Herbier Boissier 4, 1896, 187; Mémoires de l'Herbier Boissier 1900, 9 in the context of new species of Astragalus and Hedysarum xanthinum Freyn f. variegata form "Amasia" (Amaysa) (ibd, 19)
19. Anna Pavord, Bulb, London, Mitchell Beazley 2009, 468; Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 193
20. Anna Pavord, The Tulip. London, Bloomsbury 1999, 332
21. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 194
22. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 194; Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 211
23. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 194
24. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 193-195
25. Martyn Rix, Curtis's Botanical Magazine 24/4, 2007, 205
26. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 195
27. Mike Maunder, Robyn S. Cowan, Penelope Stranc, Michael F. Fay, The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics 2, 2001, 199
28. http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/TulipaSpeciesFour
29. Richard Wilford, Tulips. Species and Hybrids for the Gardener. Portland, Timber Press 2006, 147
30. http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/TulipaSpeciesFour
31. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 212
32. http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=1967
33. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 213
34. Richard Wilford, Michael F. Fay, Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 2007, 213

Further reading

• Wilford R, Fay M. F. 2007. Tulipa sprengeri. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 24, 211–216.

External links