Tulipa problem

[Catwheazle]

Winter activity ...
Can someone (simple) explain the difference between Tulipa tarda and Tulipa dasystemon?
Unfortunately, what I found on the internet was very confusing for me :-(
thx
greetings
Bernd

[Tristan_He]

Hi Bernd, this paper may be useful

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bjm_Zonneveld/publication/281225850_Tulipa_jacquesii_Liliaceae_a_new_species_from_Western_Kyrgyzstan/links/5a0060c0a6fdcc82a30ccbb7/Tulipa-jacquesii-Liliaceae-a-new-species-from-Western-Kyrgyzstan.pdf

It compares the new species with both T. tarda and dasystemon, and there is a handy table with the differences. Basically T. tarda has up to 7 leaves and 'fried egg' colour (white flowers with a central yellow spot). dasystemon has two leaves, only a single flower and the flower is yellow all over.

Best wishes, Tristan

[Tristan_He]

Many commercial sellers seem to list T. tarda as "T. tarda (syn. dasystemon)" for some reason. They have been doing this for as long as I can remember looking at bulb catalogues (about 40 years). I can only assume that a long time ago T. tarda was circulating in cultivation but wrongly named / misidentified as T. dasystemon. Given that T. tarda is not a synonym for dasystemon I can't understand why they are still doing this.    Misidentifications happen, correct the mistake, move on.

And while we're at it, "Fritillaria uva-vulpis (syn. assyriaca)" is another common one of these.... there is really no excuse for it, they are different species.

Anyway, rant over!

Tristan

[Catwheazle]

Hi Tristan,
thanks for your answer and the very interesting article  :-)
Bernd

[Catwheazle]

Addendum: It's not just like that with the two of them.
Genuine variety and correct names seem to be increasingly unusual.
In the meantime, I don't buy anything from "normal" dealers because
the apprenticeship money is way too much for me.
... and in this case the Google research has only produced chaos :-(


greetings

Bernd