This tall, late-blooming species has a single blooming flower and linear or broadly lanceolate leaves.

[15] This hybrid is widely believed to have originated in Tian Shan of China, from the collections of the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul, as is the case with other species of tulips that came into Europe.

[1] In 1574, Sultan Selim II ordered the Kadi of A‘azāz in Syria to send him 50,000 tulip bulbs.

However, Harvey points out several problems with this source, and there is also the possibility that tulips and hyacinth (sümbüll), originally Indian spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) have been confused.

[16] Sultan Selim also imported 300,000 bulbs of Kefe Lale (also known as Cafe-Lale, from the medieval name Kaffa, probably Tulipa sauveolens, syn.

[18] When the tulip originally arrived in Europe from the Ottoman Empire, its popularity soared and it quickly became a status symbol for the newly wealthy merchants of the Dutch Golden Age.