Tulipomania

Tulipomania

Tulips come in an enormous variety of different colours except for a true blue, and some flowers have an attractive streaked coloration which is caused by a harmless virus carried by aphids. Wild tulips come from the area around Turkey and they were introduced into Europe in the late 1500s. A period of "tulipomania" followed when huge sums were paid for single bulbs of special varieties and many people went bankrupt during this craze. [CH] {FW}