''Tulipa albanica'' is a flowering plant in the tulip genus, family

Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair a ...

that is native to

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. It was discovered near the village of Surroj in

in 2010. The plant is a critically endangered (CR) as it grows in an area smaller than 100 ha, surrounded by mining activities. Related species include '' Tulipa scardica'' and '' Tulipa schrenkii''. ''T. albanica'' bears morphological similarities to both species, as well as growing in a similar environment, but can be distinguished genetically as well as by ''T. albanica's'' undulating leaf shape.

Description

''Tulipa albanica'' is a

bulbous In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs durin ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

reaching in height. The bulb is ovoid to ovoid-

globose A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ...

and in diameter. The stem is erect,

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

, glaucous to greyish-green and the leaves, which vary from 3–5, reach a size of about long by , and are glaucous to greyish-green. They grow alternately along the stem and the lowermost ones have strongly undulated edges. The stem bears a solitary large, erect, campanulate flower. It can be found in two colour: yellow to golden-yellow or carmine-scarlet to deep reddish-brown. The

chromosome number Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectivel ...

is 2n = 2x = 24.

Conservation

The Institute for Environmental Policy, a local NGO is carrying out monitoring and conservation actions, with the aim to propagate the plant to other locations in the region of Kukës, and secure its survival.

References

Bibliography

* * * albanica Endemic flora of Albania Ephemeral plants Albanian discoveries Plants described in 2010 Flora of Albania {{albania-stub