Flora-Fauna

Tulipa humilis var. aucheriana (Baker) Christenh.

First published in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 172: 314 (2013).

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, pp. 227–228, Pl. LXX, 1; 1966)

• Synonyms: Tulipa aucheriana Baker; Tulipa aucheriana subsp. westii Mouterde.

• Life-form & habit: Bulb 1–2 cm, rarely 3 cm, in diameter, with reddish-brown tunics slightly hairy at the tip but not woolly. The regional subsp. westii account describes an underground stem 2–7 cm long and a solitary, glabrous flower stalk reaching 8 cm.

• Leaves: Usually three, occasionally two or four, spreading along the ground; narrow, 10–15 cm long, with long-tapering tips, slightly wavy margins and irregularly curved or rolled blades.

• Flowers: Bell-shaped to funnel-shaped. Tepals nearly equal, pointed, 2–3 cm long and a little over 1 cm wide. Outer tepals pale green outside; inner tepals pink-violet outside; all pink-violet inside with yellowish bases. Filaments 12–14 mm long, linear and flattened, with a white beard along the basal 2 mm, otherwise yellowish and glabrous. Anthers brown, ovate-elliptic, about 2 mm long.

• Fruit: Ovary tapering into a style with a capitate stigma. Capsule ovate-elliptic, yellowish-white, abruptly ending in a 3 mm point.

• Phenology: May–June.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky places in high mountains. Mouterde’s subsp. westii type locality is at 2,700 m on Qornet el Achara.

• Lebanese distribution: Jabal Barouk, the Cedars of Barouk, Jabal Sannine, Jourd Hasroun, the upper Makmel, Foumm el Mizhab, Qornet el Achara, the main Lebanon range and Hermon.

• Syrian distribution: Above Bloudane, Talaat Moussa and Jabal Abou el Haoua.

• Recorded locations: Sannine.

• Native range: Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon-Syria and Türkiye.

⚠️ Taxonomic note: Kew includes Mouterde’s Tulipa aucheriana subsp. westii within T. humilis var. aucheriana. The morphology, flowering period and regional localities above follow Mouterde’s westii account; the Kew range applies to the currently accepted variety as a whole.