But did you know that tulips actually have their roots in Turkey?

Dutch Tulips With Oriental Roots

Turkish ornaments dating from the 12th century portray tulips, but European literature mentions tulips for the first time in the 1550’s, notes botanist Adélaïde L. Stork. In 1553 a traveler from France wrote that “amazed foreigners” were buying unfamiliar “red lilies with big onions” in the markets of Constantinople (Istanbul). Locals called the flower dülbend, meaning “turban” in Turkish, and that word, explains Dr. Stork, became “the etymological source of the word ‘tulip’.”

One of the foreigners intrigued by these turbanlike flowers was Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, the Austrian ambassador to Turkey (1555-62). He took some bulbs from Constantinople to Vienna, where they were planted in the gardens of Ferdinand I, the Hapsburg emperor. There the tulip bulbs flourished under the skillful care of Charles de L’Écluse—a French botanist better known by his Latin name, Carolus Clusius.

Nevertheless, the love affair with the tulip survived the aftermath of tulipomania, and the tulip bulb industry began to flourish again. In fact, by the 18th century, Dutch tulips had become so famous that a Turkish sultan, Ahmed III, imported thousands of tulips from Holland. So after a long journey, the Dutch offspring of Turkish tulips returned to their roots.