Family |
Liliaceae
Tulipa agenensis
Redouté
Tulipa agenensis Redouté
First published in Liliac. 1: add. & corr. (1804).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 229, with taxonomic discussion on pp. 230–231, Pl. LXXI, 1; 1966)
• Synonym: Tulipa oculus-solis St.-Amans ex DC.
• Life-form & habit: Bulbous perennial, glabrous and more or less glaucous, producing stolons. Bulb nearly spherical or ovoid, broad-based, with chestnut-brown papery tunics that are woolly inside. Stem 20–30 cm tall in Mouterde’s account.
• Leaves: Erect and pointed; margins glabrous or with a few short hairs.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flower solitary. Outer tepals up to 8 × 2 cm; inner tepals slightly shorter and less pointed. All bright red inside, paler yellowish or brownish outside, with an elongated black basal blotch up to 3 cm long, edged in pale yellow. Stamens half as long as the perianth, with black filaments and black anthers about 1.8 cm long; pollen yellow and ovary green.
• Fruit: Capsule about 4 cm long, with well-marked angles.
• Phenology: March–May.
• Habitat & elevation: Fields, vineyards and pastures.
• Lebanese distribution: Mouterde lists Abey, Bikfaya, Bhamdoun, Chatine near Tannourine, Cedars of Tannourine, Ehden, Chtaura, Taanail and Zahle under this name; see the historical identification caution below.
• Syrian distribution: Massiaf, Slenfe and Mayssaloun in Mouterde’s account.
• Recorded locations: Kfertay.
• Native range: Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Palestine and Türkiye.
• Introduced into: Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Tunisia and Türkiye-in-Europe.
⚠️ Taxonomic note: Author and first-publication details follow Kew, correcting the attribution printed in Mouterde. Mouterde discusses uncertainty in distinguishing some regional records from T. aleppensis, which Kew still accepts separately; the historical locality list is not a modern re-identification of those specimens. The morphology above follows the account headed T. agenensis, not T. aleppensis.