When it's spring again I'll bring again tulips from Amsterdam - so goes the old song. Tulips and the Netherlands seem to be forever inextricably bound, yet neither the plant or its cultivation originated there.
It's native range encompasses Turkey, Israel, Palestine, North Africa, and Iran all the way to the Northwest of China. Today, however, the flower is a truly global species and each spring the fields of numerous countries explode in a riot of colors.