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Hershey, D.R. 1997. Roses and Tulips. American Biology Teacher, 59, 72. Roses and TulipsDear Editor: Biology Today on "Flowers & Weeds" (ABT, October 1996) noted that a rose's "genetic potential" precludes it from ever producing blue flowers. Try grinding a red rose petal in a little water with a mortar and pestle, or with the back of a spoon on a white plate. Add some baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and watch the petal extract turn blue. Similarly, tulips were said to lack the genetic potential to produce black flowers. However, several tulips have black anthers and 'Pierson' has black splotches at the base of its tepals as pictured in Crockett (1971). Breeders have gotten close to true black tulips, with cultivars such as 'Black Parrot' and 'La Tulipe Noire'. Alexander Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, also wrote the 1850 novel, The Black Tulip, about the discovery of a black tulip. Dumas was inspired by the Dutch tulipomania, the widespread and excessive speculation in tulip bulbs in the 1630s. Many people lost their fortunes when the tulip market collapsed in 1637. Tulips are a marvelous plant to discuss in biology class. There are a good example of a plant where the horticultural classification is more important than the scientific one. Two horticultural classes of tulips commemorate the famous biologists, Darwin and Mendel. David R. Hershey
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