The tulip

This is a history of a flower that has inspired the most extraordinary obsessions. Tulipomania first struck Western Europe in 1637, when ninety-nine lots of tulip bulbs were auctioned in Holland for around �6 million in today�s money. Emperor S�leyman was so besotted with the tulip that the flower appears as a motif on everything from tiles and rugs to the illuminated manuscripts of the late Ottoman Empire. Even today there is a society in Wakefield devoted solely to the cultivation of the tulip. What is it about this flower that provokes such passion? Perhaps one answer is its gloriously vivid and varied colours apparently produced by a tiny parasitic aphid. Pavord follows the history of the tulip along its many fascinating and sometimes bizarre byways, clearly in the grips of her own obsession and happily exploring those of others.