Tulips are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous
geophytes. The flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured,
generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a
different coloured blotch at the base of the tepals, internally. Because
of a degree of variability within the populations and a long history of
cultivation, classification has been complex and controversial.
The name "tulip" is thought to be derived from a Persian word for
turban, which it may have been thought to resemble by those who
discovered it. Tulips were originally found in a band stretching from
Southern Europe to Central Asia, but since the seventeenth century have
become widely naturalised and cultivated. In their natural state, they
are adapted to steppes and mountainous areas with temperate climates.
Flowering in the spring, they become dormant in the summer once the
flowers and leaves die back, emerging above ground as a shoot from the
underground bulb in early spring.