The tulip is a Eurasian and North African genus of perennial, bulbous plants in the lily family. Tulips are Spring blooming herbaceous herbs with showy flowers, of which around 75 wild species are currently accepted.
Cultivation of tulips began in Persia, probably in the 10th century. It is believed the first tulips in the United States were grown near Spring Pond at the Fay Estate in Lynn and Salem, Massachusetts between 1847 and 1865.
The word tulip, first mentioned in western Europe in or around 1554 first appeared in English as tulipa or tulipant, and may be ultimately derived from the Persian word for turban because of a perceived resemblance of the shape to that of a turban. This may have been due to a translation error in early times, when it was fashionable in the Ottoman Empire to wear tulips on turbans.
Tulips are a symbol for the perfect lover, fame, and is the flower emblem of Holland.