Jason Bradwell's 365/366 Photo a Day Blog

Seems a certain mother-in-law, who's birthday just so happens to be today, has a fancy for flowers of the tulip variety. She just needs to learn to be a little more flexible with her birth date, so these guys could have fully opened...

Although tulips are associated with Holland, the tulip is actually not a Dutch flower as many people tend to believe (don't let those Pella people know, they'll pelt you with wooden shoes). The tulip is a flower indigenous to Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and other parts of Central Asia. Tulips were brought to Europe in the 16th century. The word tulip, which also appeared in such forms as tulipa or tulipant, entered the language by way of French tulipe.

There are approximately 100 species of tulips, ranging in height from 4-27 inches. The colorful and attractive cup shaped flowers have three petals and three sepals, which are most often termed tepals because they are nearly identical. The six petaloid tepals are often marked near the bases with darker markings. The flowers have six basifixed, distinct stamens with filaments shorter than the tepals and the stigmas are districtly 3-lobed.