What Is the Fruit of a Tulip?

Tulip Fruit

• Tulips produce flat, circular seeds inside unimpressive, capsule-like fruits when the flower is successfully pollinated. The fruits of tulip flowers are small, egg-shaped and typically feature a leather-like surface that is not easily broken. These fruits remain on the flower stem long after the petals have fallen and the foliage yellows. Inside, tulip fruits contain rows of seeds that are usually brown and shaped like a disc.

Propagation by Seed

• Tulip flowers emerge from bulbs late winter through spring and successfully pollinated blossoms go on to produce seeds within fruit to ensure the survival of the plant's DNA. Propagating tulips from seed is a simple, though time-consuming, affair that begins with seeds obtained from a nursery or from dried tulip fruit pods. Sow tulip seeds during fall, as exposure to cool weather while in the ground will encourage bulb development and keep the ground moist. It can take up to seven years to see a tulip bloom from a germinated seed, which is why propagation by bulb is the more common method.

Propagation by Bulb

• Growing tulips from bulbs is the most commonly used propagation method for these flowers, as bulbs planted during the fall one year will produce a showy display the next spring. To get the most out of your tulip bulbs, snip the single flower stem it produces when the bloom begins to wilt or fade. This prevents tulips from using energy for making seeds and saves it in the bulb to produce another flower next spring. While removing the flower is vital to storing energy in tulip bulbs, greenery should be allowed to wither and die naturally. Once brown or yellow, gently tug the stems away from buried bulbs and stop watering them, as tulip bulbs benefit from a dry, warm period underground. Dig up your bulbs to replant them if you choose, though this isn't necessary if your tulips do well in their original location.

Tulip Tree Fruit

• The species Liriodendron tulipifera is a member of the family Magnoliaceae, and it is more commonly referred to as a "tulip tree," due to the close resemblance of the plant's large blossoms to those of the smaller, bulbous flower. Sometime in September or October, after producing large, colorful flowers in May, tulip trees create small, cone-shaped, light brown fruits that are made up of a number of narrow scales attached to a common axis. Of the 70 or so winged scales, only a few contain productive DNA and over the course of winter, each scale sheds away, leaving the cone-like fruits in various states on the tulip tree.