Although it was the longer, more slender, spidery petalled flower, now known as the Istanbul Tulip, that was most visually celebrated in Ottoman culture, ‘The wild flowers that had been grown in Istanbul in Mehmed’s day were short and rounded, almost egg shaped’, more like the shape of the flowers available today. While it cannot be definitively proven which varieties Mehmed chose to furnish his highly colourful, formal palace gardens, the rich vibrant colouring, its aesthetic connection to history and fable and its relatively local availability makes Tulipa Armena likely to be one of the first species to be cultivated for aesthetic pleasure and status.