1. Tulipa edulis (Miquel) Baker, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 14: 295. 1874.
老鸦瓣 lao ya ban
Orithyia edulis Miquel, Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 3: 158. 1867; Amana edulis (Miquel) Honda; A. graminifolia (Baker ex S. Moore) A. D. Hall; Gagea argyi H. Léveillé; G. coreana H. Léveillé (1910), not Nakai (1932); G. hypoxioides H. Léveillé; Tulipa graminifolia Baker ex S. Moore.
Bulb ovoid, 1.5--4 cm in diam.; tunic brownish, papery, densely villous-woolly inside. Stem usually simple, 10--25 cm, slender, glabrous. Leaves usually 2, glaucous, linear, (10--)15--25 cm × (2--)5--9(--12) mm, relatively thick, glabrous. Bracts usually 2, opposite, very rarely 3 and whorled, narrowly linear, 1.5--3 cm × 1--2 mm. Flower solitary; pedicel 2--4 cm. Tepals white, streaked with purple-red, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2--3 cm × 4--7 mm. Inner stamens slightly longer than outer; filaments glabrous, slightly dilated near middle or base. Style ca. 4 mm. Capsule subglobose, 5--7 mm in diam., apex long beaked. Fl. Mar--Apr, fr. Apr--May. 2 n = 48*
Grassy slopes, hillsides; near sea level to 1700 m. Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].
Wu Zhengyi (editor’s note) believes that this and the following species would be better treated under the segregate genus Amana on the basis of morphology and geographic distribution.