[2] It was described by Pierre Edmond Boissier and Theodor Heinrich Hermann von Heldreich (1862).

The stem is glabrous or hairy, and the leaves which vary from 2–7 reach a size of about 20x2 cm, and are green, often with a tinge of red along their edges.

The stem bears 1–4 globular to star-shaped flowers with copper-red, rarely yellow and red tepals, arranged in two whorls of three.

[8] The species has at various times been treated as a variable taxon with a range of forms, divided into subspecies, including T. o. whittalii,[3] or as a number of different discrete species, including T. bithynica, T. hageri and T.

[9] Tulipa orphanidea is found in the southeast Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece, Aegean Islands, Crete and western Turkey.

Its habitat includes black pine (Pinus nigra) forests, fields and roadsides, at altitudes up to 1,700 m.[3][6][7][8] They only grow in tropical and temperate zones.