Tulipa uniflora (L.) Besser ex Baker

Reports of Tulipa heteropetala Ledebour from China (e.g., in FRPS) are based on misidentified plants of T. uniflora.

Bulb ovoid, 1--2 cm in diam.; tunic blackish brown, papery, appressed hairy inside distally. Stem 10--20 cm, glabrous. Leaves 2(or 3), much spaced or ± crowded, narrowly linear-lanceolate or linear, not or slightly overtopping flower, 0.2--1.5 cm wide, glabrous. Flower solitary. Tepals yellow; outer ones abaxially tinged with purplish green or dark violet, oblanceolate to obovate or lanceolate to oblong, 1.5--3 cm × 4--8 mm; inner tepals abaxially longitudinally streaked with purplish green at center, wider than outer ones, clawed at base. Inner stamens slightly longer than outer ones; filaments dilated proximally, gradually attenuate toward apex, glabrous. Style ca. 4 mm. Fl. May--Jun. 2 n = 24.

Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].

Thickets, sunny gravelly slopes; 1200--2400 m.

Ornithogalum uniflorum Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 2: 242; Mant. Pl. 1: 62. 1767; Gagea uniflora (Linnaeus) Schultes & J. H. Schultes; Orithyia nutans Trautvetter; O. uniflora (Linnaeus) D. Don; Tulipa nutans (Trautvetter) B. Fedtschenko.