Range
Southern Turkmenistan to Iran.
SPRING MOUNTAIN · BOTANICAL PROFILE
Mountain tulip
Tulipa montana · لاله کوهی
Bulbous geophyteNative to IranSpring signal
A mountain tulip whose visible flowering season is brief, while the plant's persistence is carried underground through its bulb.
Ecology.
Kew accepts Tulipa montana and records its native range from southern Turkmenistan to Iran. As a bulbous geophyte, much of the plant's annual strategy is hidden below ground until temperature and moisture permit above-ground growth and flowering.
Life form
Bulbous geophyte.
Season
A brief visible phase tied to mountain conditions.
Archive meaning.
The tulip turns season into structure. A landscape can look botanically quiet for most of the year while bulbs wait below the surface for a narrow flowering window.
Field note
The word ‘geophyte’ means the plant keeps its renewal organs underground — a useful strategy where the above-ground season is short or harsh.
Artwork note
The image on this page is an interpretive habitat or archive plate, not a diagnostic specimen photograph.
Verification
Taxonomy and conservation claims follow the archive's specialist-source hierarchy and should be read with the dated source record.