Tulipa montana
Tulipa montana is a species of tulip native to the mountains of Iran and Turkmenistan. With its deep red petals it has been proposed as a candidate for the Biblical Rose of Sharon, whose identity is unknown.
Richard Wilford in his 2006 book Tulips writes, "This really is one of the most alluring of the smaller tulip species".
Description
T. montana is a low-growing perennial bulb, and it can reach up to tall.It has glaucous leaves, then blooms in early spring, or early summer, in April, or as late as July.
It has cup-shaped flowers, that come in shades of red, from scarlet, crimson, to deepest blood-red. Inside the bloom, it has a greenish-black central blotch and yellow anthers. In the wild, there are also yellow forms.
Taxonomy
The Latin specific epithet montana refers to mountains or coming from mountains.It was first found in Persia in 1826, and then published and described by John Lindley in The Botanical Register, Vol.13 on page 1106 in 1827.