TULIPESSAUVAGES.ORG I Tulipa ostroswkiana : hundreds of tulips ...


Français I English



Association News Tulips of France French National Collection Bibliography Links Contact us

March 2008

Tulipa ostrowskiana Regel (1884) belongs to the Kolpakowskianae section. If during decades, some authors hesitated to regard it as a form of Tulipa kolpakowskiana, a recent study attaches it to Tulipa tetraphylla. In fact, only a thorough study of the ploïdie of the in-situ populations would bring some final conclusions.

In the wild, it lives mainly in the northern part of the Tian Shan mountains. Here, comments of Marit and Hans Olaf Aanensen:

" We saw these plants on the passage of Kordoi, between Almaty and Tarz, at an average altitude of approximately 800-900 m. Tulips live there on the abrupt edges which follow the principal road. Ground proves very rocky and the species seems to seek the sunniest exposure. We observed entirely red or yellow flowers tulips as well as plants whose flowers had all the intermediary tones. If Tulipa ostrowskiana lives in the same areas that Tulipa kolpakowskiana, the latter, of a lower size, appears nevertheless to prefer the open steppes. We also saw some hybrids between these two species."