Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons; Public domain Source: https://www.rct.uk/collection/1057452/rariorum-plantarum-historia-carolus-clusius
Carolus Clusius (1524-1609), a renowned Flemish-Dutch botanist, wrote several notable books, including the herbal Rariorum plantarum historia, published in Antwerp in 1601. This work would have formed part of the library of the well-to-do citizen in New Netherland. This book dedicates no less than 15 pages to the tulip and includes the first known illustrations of this newly introduced bulbous plant. The tulip’s cultivation which took place under Clusius’ own directions at the Leiden Botanical Garden, marked the beginning of Holland’s pivotal role in floriculture. The Dutch passion for the tulip soon would spread oversees and find its expression in the later 17th-century gardens of New Amsterdam.