Tulipa aitchisonii var. clusianoides

[pontus]

Hello Everyone,

I could not resist sharing 2 pictures of my most beautifull tulipa sp, just in full flower now, as I write.

It is the unique tulipa atchinsonii clusianoides from Afghanistan. Only the original location of this sp was almost enough to grow it for, but its beauty and unique deep purple colour inside of the petals makes it a real jewel!

It survived -15°c in the ground here this winter, and also grows ok in a pot, but seems to do better in the ground

Pontus Wallstén
Switzerland

[Maggi Young]

Tulipa aitchisonii var. clusianoides is so pretty. Your form has very good colouring.
Here is a link to the RBGE record:
http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/bgbase/vherb/bgbasevherb.php?cfg=bgbase/vherb/zoom.cfg&filename=E00329506.zip&queryRow=1

[mark smyth]

OMG  It's a beauty

[Armin]

Pontus,
thanks for giving a name to it. I took photos 2011 in Hortus Bulborum NL but there was no name given, just a no..

[mark smyth]

Cant wait to see it offered for sale

[Lesley Cox]

What a stunning tulip!

[PeterT]

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-309805
I think Lady Jane is a cross between two forms (subspecies)- not sure, but Janis was selling a wild form with this colouring.
I remember there was a lot of praise for tulipa clusiana last year too.

[Maggi Young]

Tulipa clusiana is always pretty, and 'Lady Jane ' is an elegant thing.... but the inner of this type is just delicious!

The form shown by Pontus has nicely full flowers, too.... this form,
http://www.growsonyou.com/rbtkew/blog/19033-late-march-at-kew  .....
 on a Kew blog, has more starry, narrow petals... not nearly so showy.

[PeterT]

Yes I think Pontus has a good form Maggie 

[Janis Ruksans]

Cant wait to see it offered for sale

I'm offering it from time to time... Allways great request, so there are pauses for increasing.
Janis

[pontus]

Yes it really is fabulous. I hope that it will manage to set some seed.

it is interesting to see that there is a more stary form as well...

i hope the flower will hold for another few days, but as its abnormally cold here now, hopefully it will.

the bulb is also very unusual, rock hard and no apparent "detatchable" tunic such as in tulipa humilis albocaurulea for instance.

clusianoides also has a small tuft of hair at the top of the bulb, so in itself, the bulb is also nice to look at!

[mark smyth]

Great to know Janis

[PeterT]

I have a few seeds from last year, open pollinated, from a bulb origionally purchased from Paul Christian , if any one wants them please let me know...