Species guide

Garden tulip

Toxic if eaten

Tulipa gesneriana

Garden tulip
Photo: Sabarni Sarker · CC BY

How to recognise it

A single cup-shaped flower on a smooth stem with a few broad, strap-like gray-green leaves. A spring-flowering bulb in countless colors.

Is it dangerous?

Lovely to look at, but the bulbs are poisonous if eaten (a real risk to dogs that dig them up) and the sap can irritate skin.

What to do

Keep pets from digging up bulbs, and wear gloves if your skin is sensitive.

Never decide what's safe to eat or touch from a photo or a web page. Identification here is for learning and curiosity only. For anything you might eat, handle or that could harm you or a pet, consult a qualified local expert — and seek medical or veterinary care if exposure has happened.

Recorded 14,150 times in the wild worldwide.

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