I think that the important point in the discussion of Tulipa clusiana is that the plant that has been known in horticulture by this name for four centuries is a sterile clone that spreads by stolons, presumably the pentaploid mentioned by Ben Zonneveld. It is naturalised in the Mediterranean. To my mind it seems certain that this was an old Ottoman selection that has been spread around because of its vigour and ease of propagation. It is sad that within the past few years it has lapsed from commercial cultivation in Holland: a stock I had last year that was proclaimed to be the 'real thing' was a substitute of very similar appearance, but larger in the flower, a slightly different shade and also fertile. All horticultural references to T. clusiana prior to recent years refer to this single clone. The wild populations - formerly known as T. stellata and T. chrysantha - are from much further east and are normally variable, reproducing by seed. They have given rise to several cultivars available in the trade. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567 COLESBOURNE PARK SNOWDROP OPEN DAYS 2008 January 26/27 and every Saturday & Sunday in February Gates open 1pm, last entry 4 pm website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "B.J.M. Zonneveld" <B.J.M.Zonneveld@biology.leidenuniv.nl> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 10:32 AM Subject: [pbs] T clusiana >T clusiana indeed range from diploid to pentaploid. I don't know if they > are in mixed populations. Only the pentaploid seems to have expanded as > far as Spain due to the fact it makes stolons. I suppose the diploid ( T > aucheriana) does not make stolons. > It is for sure that T clusiana has not contributed anything ( despite > some suggesting otherwise) to the gesneriana type cultivars of today. > They cannot be crossed and differ strongly in nuclear DNA content