The splendid tulip

The splendid tulip (Tulipa splendens) is an extremely rare and really unique flower. It could be found only along the Tundja valley. The Bulgarian native species Tulipa splendens grows in corn fields and field borders in the oak forest zone, on deep black-earth (humus) soils on silicate base. It was discovered by the Bulgarian botanist Dimitar Delipavlov in 1976 near the village of Simeonovo, Yambol district, and ever since has not been found anywhere else in the country. In 1979 only as many as about 20 splendid tulips were counted near Simeonovo. Tulipa splendens has a brown underground bulb. Its 30-40 cm stalk, with several leaves, stems from this bulb in spring. The tulip opens into large red flowers in May. Its reproduction is a difficult one, because it takes place only by means of seeds, and the new plants fall into blossom as late as their seventh-eighth year. It is supposed that in the past the splendid tulip was not so scanty, and its unconscious extinction was caused by agricultural activities. In Bulgaria there are six other species of wild tulips. Four of them are Bulgarian endemic species, and one of them – Balkan.