Filenews 2 March 2021
With the tulip of Akamas, a species found exclusively in the Akamas Peninsula, welcomes in March and Spring the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, says. Under the scientific name Tulipa akamasica, akamasica tulip blooms from March to April, depending on the weather conditions and is threatened due to overgrazing.
According to the press release of the Ministry of Agriculture transmitted by the G.O.P., the name of the genus Tulipa comes from the Turkish word túlip and masica, which means turban (fabric used by Muslim peoples as a hat) because of the similarity of tulip blossom to turban. In addition, the adjective Akamasica was given to the species because its spread is limited to Akamasica National Forest Park, on state forest land included in the European Natura 2000 Network.
Due to the small spread and small population of the species, which does not exceed 200 plants, Tulipa Akamasica has been included in the Red Book of Flora of Cyprus, where it is classified as a "Critically Endangered" endangered species.
To protect both habitat and plant, the Department of Forestry in the 1990s moved to partially fencing the population. Later, the fencing was extended to cover almost the entire area of spread of the plant, since part of the population outside the enclosure was dangerously degraded due to overgrazing observed in the area. In addition, for the ex-situ protection of the species an attempt is made to install it in the botanical gardens of the Department of Forests.
Akamas tulip is perennial, bulbous, upright, 9–25 (–30) cm high. The leaves of the plant are fleshy, usually 3 to 7 cm, two of which at the base are larger, logoid, up to 30 cm. The upper leaves are much smaller, almost linear. The flowering shoot is fluffy, with a green colour and red hue at the top. The flower of the plant is single and is located at the top of the flowering shoot, with a diameter of about 7 cm. The parts of the perianthium have a bright red colour and a black spot on the inside, surrounded by a narrow, yellow belt while the warps are hairy at their base.
According to Zonneveld & de Groot (2012), the genus Tulipa, of the Liliaceae family, includes at least 87 species. However, due mainly to the difficult classification of the genus and in general the discrepancy in the concept of species, there is no unanimity among the experts as to the total number of species included in the genus Tulipa. Tulip species come from Europe, Western and Central Asia as well as North Africa. In Cyprus, the genus is represented by 3 species: the endemic Tulipa akamasica and Tulipa cypria, as well as the acclimatized foreign species Tulipa agenensis.
Source: Eyenews
