There are also forms with red petals bordered in yellow or white[5] The species was first described in 1794 by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth in the Annalen der Botanik (ed.

Tulipa schrenckii was described in 1873 by Eduard August von Regel in the Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaničeskago Sada.

[16] Tulipa schrenckii grows in meadows and lawns of the Eurasian steppe; there it can flower thickly and as far as the eye can see, even sometimes in semideserts,[10] up to 600 m ASL.

The wild Tulipa suaveolens is known in Turkey as Kefe Lale (also "Cafe-Lale" after the medieval name of Kaffa on the Crimea).

Tulipa suaveolens is also a progenitor of the low-growing Duc-tulips (also called Dukes, Dux or Ducks), which are attested in the Netherlands since the end of the 16th.

[17][18] A painting by Jakob de Gheyn II., originating between 1600 and 1603 depicts shells, a caterpillar and a vase with love-in the mist, a snake's head fritillary, roses, Aquilegia, lilies-of the valley, pansies and a Tulipa schrenckii with pointed petals.

Drawings by Jakob de Gheyn show this plant as well[19] Bulbs of Tulipa suaveolens were imported 1881 into the Netherlands, where they were hybridised with other domesticated tulips.