Of more than 100 known species of tulips, distributed from China and south-west Asia to north Africa and Europe, only one, Tulipa australis, was previously known to be native to Albania. T albanica, discovered near the village of Surroj, has both red and more abundant yellow forms and may have a wider distribution in similar serpentine habitats in the Balkans.
Quentin Wheeler is director of the International Institute for Species Exporation, Arizona State University
