Edible tulip
Amana edulis

Family: Liliaceae

What it is like

A bulb plant. The bulb is 1.5-4 cm across. It has a brown papery covering. Then stem is usually simple and 10-25 cm long. It is slender. There are usually 2 leaves. They are narrow. They are 10-25 cm long by 5-9 mm wide. There is one flower. The flower stalk is 2-4 cm long. The flower is white streaked with purple-red. The fruit is a capsule which is half round and 5-7 mm across. The tip has a long beak.

There are about 100 Tulipa species and many cultivated varieties.

Where it is found

It is a temperate plant. It grows on grassy slopes and hillsides from near sea level to 1700 m altitude in N China.

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, China, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, South Korea

How it is used for food

Edible parts

Leaves, root, bulb, stalks, shoots

How it is grown

Its other names

Local names

Lao ya ban

Synonyms

Amana edulis (Miquel) Honda; Amana graminifolia (Baker ex S. Moore) A.D.Hall; Gagea argyi H. Leveille; Gagea coreana H. Leveille (1910) not Nakai(1932); Gagea hypoxioides H.Leveille; Orithyia edulis Miquel; Tulipa edulis (Miq.) Baker; Tulipa graminifolia Kaber ex S. Moore; Tulipa minifolia Baker ex S. Moore;