What Was The Most Popular Flower In The Seventeenth Century Dutch Empire?

The tulip was by far the most popular flower in the Dutch Empire, during the 1600s. The most popular tulip at this time was the Semper Augustus, a two-toned flower with crimson and white petals.

Tulips were first introduced in Europe during the sixteenth century, from Constantinople, and flourished in Holland due to the rainy weather and consequent wet fields. The tulip exchange became a very profitable business, as there was much less risk involved than in trading or selling products imported from other parts of the world.

Historians believe that the height of "tulip mania" occurred between 1634 and 1637. One of the possible reasons for its popularity was the comfort, brightness and potential wealth it brought to a region, which had only a few years earlier survived the deadly bubonic plague. Other historians have pointed to the possible embarrassment felt by northern Europeans at the sight of the rich, varied imports coming in from Asia, especially when compared to the rather bleak, mundane European produce of the time.