tulip

Watch the second segment of Botany of Desire about the tulip by clicking on the link. Watch from 31:30 to 56:00. As you watch, think about how the tulip impacted the history of Europe. Does this relate to any recent events of the last twenty years or so? In your post, respond to these statements and feel free to pose your own questions to invite discussion from other students.

Transcript
36:18McDormand: THE FLOWER OF AN ANGIOSPERM
36:21HAS A MALE PART, THE STAMEN, WHICH PRODUCES POLLEN.
36:24WHETHER TRANSPORTED BY WIND, BEES, OR HUMANS,
36:28WHEN POLLEN LANDS ON THE FLOWER’S FEMALE PART,
36:32THE PISTIL, IT GETS FERTILIZED,
36:34AND GIVES RISE TO SEEDS.
36:36THE SEEDS CONTAIN A MIX OF GENES
36:38FROM BOTH THE MOTHER AND THE FATHER.
36:41BEFORE THAT, YOU HAD THIS GREENER, SLEEPIER WORLD
36:44WHERE THINGS REPRODUCE USUALLY BY CLONING,
36:47BY SPORES THAT WERE GENETICALLY IDENTICAL TO THEIR PARENTS.
36:50EVOLUTION PROCEEDED IN A KIND OF POKEY PACE,
36:53BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T HAVE AS MUCH VARIATION.
36:58AND THEN YOU HAVE THIS INCREDIBLE EXPLOSION
37:01OF DIVERSITY THAT HAPPENS WITH THIS NEW STRATEGY.
37:04[ BEE BUZZING ]
37:07IT WAS INCREDIBLY SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY.
37:09IT ALLOWED YOU TO MOVE YOUR GENES AROUND,
37:12IT ALLOWED YOU TO EVOLVE MUCH QUICKER,
37:15BECAUSE SEX CREATES VARIATION.
37:17AND THE MORE NEW COMBINATIONS YOU TRY,
37:19THE QUICKER YOU CAN ADAPT TO WHATEVER THE ENVIRONMENT IS.
37:22AND ONE PARTICULAR GROUP OF THESE ANGIOSPERMS
37:26CAME UP WITH A REALLY, REALLY CLEVER STRATEGY —
37:31AND THAT WAS
37:32TO APPEAL NOT TO, YOU KNOW,
37:34BUGS OR BIRDS OR BEES,
37:36BUT APPEAL TO US.
37:37McDormand: THE FIRST WILD TULIPS, SCIENTISTS THINK,
37:41SPRANG UP IN THE SAME PLACE WHERE THE APPLE ORIGINATED —
37:46THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL ASIA.
37:50Pollan: IT WAS TYPICALLY KIND OF MORE OPEN THAN OUR TULIP,
37:54SO IT HAD A KIND OF HOURGLASSY SHAPE.
37:57OFTEN HAD A SCENT,
37:58OFTEN HAD A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT COLOR INSIDE.
38:03[ HORSE NEIGHS ]
38:04McDormand: DRAWN BY THE BEAUTY OF THESE WILD FLOWERS,
38:08PEOPLE LEARNED HOW TO CULTIVATE THEM.
38:10Pollan: UNDER OUR ATTENTION, THE FLOWER GOT BIGGER,
38:13THE COLORS VERY OFTEN GOT BRIGHTER,
38:16AND THEN WE STARTED EXPERIMENTING WITH VARIATION.
38:26McDormand: FROM CENTRAL ASIA,
38:28THE TULIP MADE ITS WAY TO TURKEY.
38:30IT WAS THERE THAT THIS BEAUTIFUL FLOWER
38:32BEWITCHED ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN IN THE WORLD,
38:36THE SULTAN OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.
38:38Pollan: THE TURKS AT VARIOUS TIMES IN HISTORY
38:42REVERED TULIPS.
38:44SULTAN AHMED III WAS FAMOUS
38:47FOR HIS LOVE OF TULIPS,
38:49AND WHEN THEY WERE IN BLOOM EVERY YEAR,
38:53THERE WAS A FESTIVAL.
38:54EVERY NIGHT THERE WOULD BE SOME SORT OF PERFORMANCE
38:58TO CELEBRATE TULIPS.
39:00IT WAS SO EXTRAVAGANT, IN FACT,
39:02THAT THIS HELPED BRING DOWN THE SULTAN.
39:04McDormand: FOR HIS SPENDING ON TULIPS
39:08AND OTHER PERCEIVED FAILINGS,
39:10THE SULTAN WAS TOPPLED FROM HIS THRONE.
39:14BUT IT WASN’T ONLY ROYALTY
39:16THAT GOT SEDUCED BY THE TULIP.
39:18IN THE EARLY 17th CENTURY,
39:20THE FLOWER CAUSED A WHOLE COUNTRY TO GO MAD.
39:25IT WAS COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL.
39:28AND I DON’T THINK YOU CAN EXPLAIN IT
39:30ACCORDING TO ANY LOGICAL SCHEME
39:32THAT THIS ENTIRE SOCIETY WENT NUTS.
39:37McDormand: BETWEEN 1634 AND 1637,
39:39TULIPS SWEPT THE DUTCH INTO A COLLECTIVE FRENZY
39:43THAT HAS BECOME KNOWN AS “TULIP MANIA.”
39:46THEIR PASSION FOR THE FLOWER
39:47SPURRED ONE OF THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT BUBBLES IN HISTORY,
39:51AND FOR A BRIEF TIME,
39:52MADE THE TULIP ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE COMMODITIES
39:55IN THE WORLD.
39:56Pollan: IT WAS A PURE FINANCIAL
39:59SPECULATIVE BUBBLE —
40:00AND IT WAS ABOUT A FLOWER! I MEAN, HOW AMAZING IS THAT?
40:03McDormand: IT WAS A TIME WHEN THE DUTCH DOMINATED WORLD TRADE.
40:08AND A LOT OF THEM WERE GETTING RICH.
40:11IT BECAME FASHIONABLE TO GROW FLOWER GARDENS —
40:15AND NOTHING SAID “SUCCESS” LIKE A TULIP.
40:19Zonneveld: IN THE BEGINNING,
40:20THE RICH PEOPLE IN HOLLAND,
40:22THEY HAVE BIG HOUSES,
40:24AND THEY WANT TO SHOW THEY’RE WEALTHY.
40:26AT THAT TIME, WERE TULIPS.
40:31Pollan: IT REALLY WAS ABOUT THE DISPLAY OF
40:35THE EXTRAORDINARY, THE GEM.
40:37AND YOU PICTURE, YOU KNOW, KIND OF A GRAY, CLOUDY,
40:42DUTCH SPRING AFTERNOON,
40:44AND THAT COLOR AGAINST THAT STEEL SKY
40:47IS A POWERFUL THING.
40:48McDormand: FOR THE TULIP, THE DUTCH FLOWER GARDENS
40:51OFFERED A CHANCE TO STRUT ITS STUFF —
40:54AND NO TULIPS DID SO MORE DRAMATICALLY
40:57THAN THE TYPE KNOWN AS BROKEN TULIPS.
40:59THEY WERE EXTREMELY RARE,
41:01BUT, BACK THEN, NO ONE KNEW WHY.
41:04Pollan: A BREAK WAS WHEN
41:06THE BACKGROUND COLOR, THE SOLID, MATTE,
41:09SATURATED COLOR OF A TULIP
41:10GETS A KIND OF FLAME OF A SECOND COLOR;
41:13AND WHEN THIS HAPPENED,
41:14THIS WAS CONSIDERED, YOU KNOW, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TULIP.
41:17McDormand: THE MOST PRIZED OF ALL THE BROKEN TULIPS
41:21WAS ONE OF THE RAREST — THE SEMPER AUGUSTUS.

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