About
80 years earlier a Flemish diplomat, introduced tulips to Europe after finding
them as wildflowers in Turkey. Tulips became the craze. Many were trying to
make their fortune in the tulip market. The most valuable tulip bulbs were
those that produced flowers with strips or streaks on the petals. These were
called "bizarres". The seed from these flowers usually grew into
flowers with normal solid color petals. One of the bulbs sold for $8,395.
Eventually the market crashed and leaving many bankrupt, but the Netherlands
still produce 95% of the world's bulbs.
It is now known that the color breaking occurring is actually a viral symptom. Most of the transmission occurs through sap of an infected plant rubbed on another. Seed transmission is possible but at a low rate.
Picture to the left courtesy of Thorben Lundsgaard, Dept. of Plant Biology, KVL Denmark
