BULBS THE ROMANS PLANTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

BULBS THE ROMANS PLANTED.

"Are tulips brought over by the Romans still flowering in Great Britain? One of the most intriguing problems of archaeology has been revived by the reappearance of small red tulips on a number of Roman camp sites in this country. These unusual flowers grow from bulbs lying some five feet under the ground. How they come to be there is a mystery, for such a depth is unusual, even for wild plants. These tawny flowers, compared to the gargantuan itulips of the shops, are inconspicuous, and they might have passed unnoticed did they not grow solely on Roman camp sites. Not every Roman camp had its tulips, but in the south of England, where life was more settled, it is likely that the civil population of Roman Britain enjoyed gardening. Many exotic plants were brought to England during the Roman occupation, and, though tulips are not generally supposed to have been introduced until the great Holland tulip boom Of the seventeenth century, the depth at which these particular bulbs are found seems to make them contemporary with the Roman camps. Botanists maintain that our Roman flowers are a species distinct from the florists' tulip to-day. The flowers which Helena, Constantine's mother, cultivated during her stayin England bear a close resemblance to the tulips which modern alpine gardeners collect from the southern slopes of the Caucasus. Possibly a quick-witted Levantine trader realised there was money in the bulbs which grew wild near his home in Asia Minor; or it may be that wealthy Roman citizens carried these bulbs from their gardens in Italy.