Thursday, April 09, 2009

Tulips


Tulips enjoying the sun.

Although we associate them with The Netherlands, tulips are native to Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and other parts of central Asia. It is thought that tulips were first brought to Europe during the 1500s. A Flemish botanist, Charles de L'Ecluse, wrote about them during the 1600s and tulips became immensely popular, particularly in The Netherlands where they were treated like a form of currency for a while.

Imagine if tulip bulbs were still a form of currency…

2 comments:

Katie said...

Beautiful! Someday I'd love to see fields full of tulips in the Netherlands. I think coins and bills are a bit easier to carry around than bulbs though.

Ms M said...

Not to mention credit cards :>)

I'd love to see fields of tulips someday, too. can you imagine all the colors?