Tulip family
Tulips in Latin are called "Tulipa" and they belong in the lily family. Lilies in Latin are "Liliaceae". (see picture of lily flower on the right: yes, it is a lily, but if you don't look carefully, you could think it is a tulip flower...)Tulips are bulbous plants, that's why the title of this site is Tulip Bulb. You normally buy the tulip bulbs, and if you are in a 4 season climate: you plant the tulip bulbs in your garden before winter, and you will have tulip flowers in April.
Tulip flowers are large, showy flowers with six petals. There are around 100 tulip species, a tulip species is a tulip with a different first name, like my first name is different than my sisters', yet we are all from the same family.
Tulip flowers worldwide
Tulip flowers can be found in southern Europe, north Africa, and Asia; from Anatolia and Iran east as far as northeast China and Japan.
The centre of diversity of the tulip genus is in the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains and the steppes of Kazakhstan. (see picture of a wild tulip from Kazakhstan on the right)
