During the “Tulip Mania” of 1637, a single tulip bulb reportedly was sold in Holland for the equivalent of $2,500 in today’s currency.
These flowers were the bitcoins of the Dutch Golden Age; investor speculation kept driving their prices up until the market crashed, ending the first documented asset bubble burst in history. Today, in rural Maine, you can buy a kitchen-brightening bouquet of fresh tulips at the grocery store for $5.99.
One of the fascinating things about tulips is that they appear to have five or six petals. Yet, two or three of those are sepals that grew to look like petals, thereby increasing the flower’s color and attractiveness to pollinators.
As you may know, sepals are the lower, outer parts of a flower that initially are folded over the emerging bud to protect it from the elements; in most flowers, they’re green. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 3, 2022, of flowers bought in Blue Hill, Maine.)