Flowers

Tulips

too·luhp

A spring bulb from the mountains of Central Asia that reached Holland by way of Ottoman gardens. In the 1630s single bulbs changed hands there for fortunes — above all the flamed and striped kinds, like the tulip in the painting on our home page, whose streaks turned out to be the work of a virus.

Meaning

Perfect love. A red tulip is about as plain a declaration as a flower makes.