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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 17 Tulip Fun Facts 1. Tulips are edible! Provided that a tulip is grown without the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, many parts can be consumed. Tulip petals can be eaten raw or cooked, but they lose much of their color when cooked. Depending on the species and the size of the blooms, tulip petals can exhibit many flavors, including those similar to cucumbers, peas and beans, and they can be crunchy or chewy. Petals can add color and texture to earthy garden salads, and blooms that are harvested young make delightful edible cups for decadent desserts or stuffing with meat and/or vegetables. Tulip bulbs are also edible, but their centers must be removed. Fresh young tulip bulbs are palatable and prized for their sweet milky flavor, and they can be cooked and eaten similarly to potatoes. In fact, during World War II, when the Netherlands suffered an intense famine following the Battle of Arnhem in 1944, eating tulip bulbs became a necessity. 2. At one point in history, tulips were the most expensive flowers in the world. In the Netherlands, from 1634 to 1637, tulips were a rarity and a luxury, and it is said that a single tulip bulb cost almost 10 times what an average working- class man earned in a year. This period of rabid tulip popularity became known as "Tulipomania" or "Tulip Mania." 3. Tulips are native to central Asia. It wasn't until 1594 that the first tulip bloomed in Holland, after the famed Flemish botanist, Carolus Clusius, director of the University of Leiden's Hortus Botanicus botanical garden, planted some tulip bulbs that had been sent to him from Turkey. Clusius observed these fascinating new plants closely, and it was he who discovered how to cultivate varieties with multicolored and feathered petals. 4. These beautiful flowers are related to another popular bulb flower: the lily. The Tulipa genus is a member of the Liliaceae family, which, in addition to Lilium, also comprises Aspidistra, Convallaria (lily-of-the-valley), Eremurus, Fritillaria, Gloriosa, Hosta, Hyacinthus, Muscari and Ornithogalum— among scores of other genera. 5. Tulip stems continue to elongate after they have been cut. They are also geotropic/gravitropic (always growing/ stretching upward); heliotropic/phototropic (bending toward the light); and photonastic (blooms opening and closing depending on the presence of light). Watered Garden Florist; Raleigh, N.C. Nita Robertson, AIFD, CFD

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