This is an image of the tulip for which the most money, 5500 guilders, was paid in 1633 during Tulip Mania. It was painted originally in watercolor.
This is what I have learned about tulips and Tulip Mania.
1) The tulip, or lale as it is called in Iran and Turkey, is a flower native to large areas in parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The word tulip, entered the language by way of French tulipe and is ultimately derived from the Persian language dulband ("turban"). NOT because the flower head looks like a turban (that was my first assumption , but because of the turban shape of the bulb.)
2) The virus, known as TBV Tulip Breaking Virus, was introduced into the flowers via aphids. The Dutch didn't even know the cause of their fantastical tulips. They thought it was exposure to extreme conditions. I think this is interesting for two reasons. a) it was magical, no human control of the situation, and b) TBV weakens the plant, would they have knowingly sacrificed the vitality of the plant, to have the end result. My guess is yes. We do worse to our own bodies.
3) The virus wasn't stable. Just because the tulip had the variations, there was no way of knowing whether its progeny would have similar markings. There was so much financial speculation about tulips, which is crazy to me considering, THERE WAS NO CONTROL and it can take years to find out what the tulip is even going to look like. With the infection of TBV, every tulip would be effected differently, and so the resulting tulip would be one of a kind. It is one of the reasons so many paintings of tulips were done during this period of time. If you were rich you could afford to have the "portrait" painted of your valuable tulip.
What I like about if tulips became a form of currency. One bulb makes one tulip. Tulips make seed from sexual reproduction (fertilization from another plant's pollen) = resulting in a new kind of tulip. The bulb makes little bulblets from asexual reproduction = clone. What a good way to go about making sure that there is consistancy, yet variety. Bulblets take awhile to become developed enough to make their own tulip, but seeds take ever so much longer. Tulips are smart. I think Pink tulips are the smartest of all.
