Tulipa biflora


Tulipa biflora, the two-flowered tulip, is a species of tulip, native to the former Yugoslavia, Crimea, Anatolia, the Caucasus, southern Russia, Egypt, the Middle East, Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Xinjiang in China. It has many synonyms, including Tulipa polychroma.
It can be found on screes, rocky slopes, grassy slopes and deserts.
It can be found in the salt deserts in the basin of the Wolga and it can often found with the small yellow tulip, Tulipa sylvestris.
Cultivated, it has two, occasionally one or three, flowers borne on a single stalk.
It has stems that can grow up to 10 cm tall, with 2 grey-green leaves. They are lanceolate. It blooms between late winter to spring, and the flowers are 2-3.5 cm long. They are white with a yellow centre, the tepal have greenish-grey backs. The flowers are fragrant.
Most parts of plant are poisonous if they are ingested.

Taxonomy

It was found in the Caucasus, and then published by Peter [Simon Pallas] in 'Reise durch Verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs.', Vol.3 on page 727 in 1776.