Flower Bulb History

Tulips are the best-known bulb flowers.

Bulb flowers are native to many countries throughout the world, but not to Holland, which is the country best known for bulbs. Spring-flowering tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are among its most famous exports. A peek into the history of bulb flowers explains this puzzle.

Tulips

Wild tulips are smaller than cultivated species.

Tulips are native to parts of Russia and China into which the Ottoman empire once extended. The Turks began cultivating tulips around 1,000 A.D. The tulip, a favorite of Ottoman sultans, remains the national flower of Turkey.

Tulipomania

Tulips became a major Dutch export.

Bulb plants spread to Holland in the late 1500s from the Mediterranean and Middle East. The flowers became so popular they incited frantic financial trading called "Tulipomania," which was outlawed in 1637. Holland now is the world's largest producer of flower bulbs.

Daffodils

Narcissus poeticus may have inspired the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus.

Daffodils are native to the Mediterranean and were brought to Britain by the ancient Romans. They became the national flower of Wales as well as the subject of English poet William Wordsworth's "Daffodils" in 1804.

Hyacinths

Wild hyacinths have fewer blossoms than cultivated species.

Wild hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) can be traced back 4,000 years to the arid lands of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The ancient Greek poet Homer mentions them in "The Iliad." When Ottoman Sultan Moerad III died in 1595, his son planted half a million hyacinths to honor him.

References

• Wageningen UR Digital Library: Introduction to Dutch Gardens and Garden Architecture
• American Meadows: History of Daffodils and Tulips; Ray Allen
• Old House Gardens: The Hyacinth Story; Frederick Doerflinger; 1989
• Internet Sacred Text Archive: Bulfinch's Mythology --- Echo and Narcissus

Resources

• University of Illinois: Spring Flowering Bulbs
• North Carolina State University: Summer/Fall Flowering Bulbs