Tulip

Tulip
Over a thousand years ago, Tulips grew wild in Persia, and near Kabul the Great Mogul Baber counted thirty-three different species. The word tulip is thought to be a corruption of the Turkish word for turbans. Persian poets sang its praises, and their artists drew and painted it so often, that all of Europe considered the tulip to be the symbol of the Ottoman Empire.
There are people in the world who eat some varieties tulip bulbs, and Japan makes a flour from them. The Dutch have eaten tulip bulbs when no other food was available.
Wealthy people began to purchase tulip bulbs that were brought back from Turkey by Venetian merchants.
In 1610, fashionable French ladies wore corsages of tulips, and many fabrics were decorated with tulip designs. In the seventeenth century, a small bed of tulips was valued at 15,000-20,000 francs. The bulbs became a currency, and their value was quoted like stocks and shares.

The word tulip is thought to be a corruption of the Turkish word for turbans. In the East, the tulips cultivation was started over a  thousand years ago. It grew wild in Persia and near Kabul the Great  Mogul Baber counted thirty -three different species. According to  Persian legend, the first tulips sprang up from the drops of blood shed by a lover and for a long time the tulip was the symbol of avowed love. Poets sang its praises and artists drew and painted it so often that when imported to Europe it was considered to be the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. The Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire sent tulip seeds and bulbs to Clusius in Vienna. He was not sure what to do with them so he planted them all in a heap and when they matured , he gave a hundred bulbs to his grocer who also not knowing quite what to do with them fried them and ate them with oil and vinegar. There are people in the world who still eat tulip bulbs of certain varieties. In some parts of Japan a flour is made of them. In times of famine the Dutch have eaten tulip bulbs when no other food was available.
Wealthy people began to purchase tulip bulbs that were brought back from Turkey by Venetian merchants. In 1577, Clusius sent to England some tulip bulbs but they did not catch on at that time. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, France began to become interested in tulips. In 1610, fashionable French ladies wore corsages of tulips

It was in the seventeenth century that the phenomenon of tulipomania commenced. Tulip values raised day by day and the fever spread though Europe from France to the Low countries. In the course of a few years the Dutch were seized by tulipomania...Early in the seventeenth century, a small bed of tulips was valued at 15,000-20,000 francs. But the lust for tulips was not so much a enthusiasm for the flower, the bulbs became an actual type of currency. Their value changed from day to day and were quoted like stocks and shares.
An eighteenth century manuscript notes that the Sheik Mohammed Lalizare, official tulip grower of Ahmed(1703-1730) counted 1,323 varieties. Tulips are still popular and there are many exotic varieties that we enjoy in our gardens.