Appearance
The tulip has a short stem, 20–25 cm long, making it a dwarf tulip.It has lance shaped leaves which may be plain green, or blue-green. They also often have purple markings on their leaves.
It is one of the earliest tulips to bloom, between February to April.
The funnel-shaped flower, has six pointy petals that open out like a star similar to water lilies do, hence the common name. They open very wide on sunny days.
They usually have outermost petals with a different colour than interior petals. The long upright petals often have a flushed orange-red, red or purple flush on the back of the petal. Inside the petal, there maybe a butter-yellow, or yellow blotch and sometimes with further red markings. There are also red, orange, pink and clear yellow forms too.
After it has flowered it will form seeds.
Distribution
''Tulipa kaufmanniana'' is native to temperate areas of Central Asia. It has naturalised between southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran in the west to northeast of China.References:
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