Chios Wild Tulips

The Wild Tulips of Chios: The spring at Chios is filled with colour and fragrance. In fact, if you pass by Kampochora, you will see some nice flowers growing there. They are the tulips, or lalades, as the residents of Chios call them, from the Turkish world lale. There are about six kinds of tulips on Chios and the important fact is that they are self-grown, without the care of anyone. These flowers impressed the Dutch sailors who arrived on the island in the Medieval times and took some seeds back in their country. That is how Holland started cultivating tulips, which have become since then its trademark.

Nowadays, the Municipality of Chios has taken an initiative to protect these rare flowers. In association with the Department of Environment of the Aegean University, a research is being conducted on the possibility of preserving and extending the blooming period of the Tulips.