The tulip is a popular plant which grows from bulbs. With hundreds of varieties, it is one of the best-known flowers in the world.
The garden tulip was introduced into Western Europe from Constantinople in the 16th century and quickly achieved great popularity. In Holland, a rage called tulipomania developed. When prices went crazy, tulips came in many colors and their petals were variegated, streaked and striped.
Unfortunately, these color features were often not the result of breeding but of the tulip mosaic virus, transmitted by aphids. The virus infection causes the cultivar to break its lock on a single color, resulting in intricate bars, stripes, streaks, featherings or flame-like effects of different colors on the petals. Nowadays, modern variegated tulips are the result of genetic manipulations.