History of the Tulip Tulip (Lat. Tulipa) is a perennial flower of the lily family, which has scaly bulbs. Its history as it ‘conquered’ the world is of interest as well. It goes back to the 16th century, when a sizeable shipment of seeds and bulbs was sent to Vienna. Charles de l’Ecluse, the director of Vienna’s Imperial Medical Garden, started actively cultivating tulips. Soon afterwards tulips spread beyond the borders of Austria and were imported into France and Holland, where they proved so popular that they became collector’s items