The bulb, with a diameter of up to 2 cm, is covered with dark, leathery covering scales, its apex is covered with adjacent red hairs [4] . T. praestans differs from traditional varietal tulips in that the annual bulb replacement cycle in mature plants occurs according to the pattern characteristic of young tulips [5] . Every year, a faded bulb throws aside the “main” stolon , at the end of which the main substitute bulb develops [5] . On other stolons, baby bulbs develop simultaneously with it [5] . This method of settlement is characteristic of the Pamir-Alai species — T. lanata , T. carinata, and natural forms of T. fosteriana [6] .
The stem height from the soil surface, according to Z. P. Bochantseva, is up to 60 cm [4] , cultivars are usually undersized - about 20 cm. Adult plants in a culture are usually multiflowered, forming several stems from one bulb. In the upper part of the stems are covered with whitish hairs and stained with anthocyanin . In plants with one stem 3-4 leaves, rarely 5-6 (in multi-stemmed specimens more). The leaves, according to Bochantseva’s description, are “deviated, spaced, light green, slightly grayish, not curly,” up to 25 cm long [4] . The outer tepals (petals) are orange-red on the outside, with a bluish or raspberry tint on top, and a yellow spot below. The inner petals are orange-red outside, almost yellow at the base [4] . Inside, all the petals are almost uniformly colored with an orange-reddish color [7] . The length of the petal reaches 7 cm [7] . Anthers of yellow, purple, or burgundy flowers, gray, purple, or raspberry pollen [7] . The fruit is a box of orange-straw color, up to 4.3 cm in height and 2.8 cm in width [7] . The seeds are dark brown, 7 × 6 mm, the seed germ visible to the eye is a lighter tone [5] . Seeds germinate (even by the standards of the Tulip genus [8] ) slowly: under the experimental conditions of the Tashkent Botanical Garden, the first signs of emergence appeared 142 days after sowing [9] .
T. praestans is a diploid with 24 chromosomes in the nucleus [10] (the main haploid number of the Tulip genus is 12 [11] ). A peculiarity of the karyotype of this species is the uniformity of the external form of chromosomes, thick and shortened relative to the chromosomes of other species, unusual for tulips [12] . Related properties are also related to the Pamir-Alai species T. carinata and T. subpraestans [13] .
12 varieties and forms of T. praestans are registered in the registry of the Dutch Royal Society of Onion Cultures (KAVB) [14] . The most common varieties in culture are:
- Fusilier selection by Jaak Rosen (1939) [15] - multiflowered stunted (up to 25 cm) primrose with dark red flowers;
- Unicum selection CA Verdegaal (1975) [14] - multi-flowered undersized with red flowers and a contrasting white border at the edges of the leaves;
- Shogun breeding br. Ruyterov (2000) [14] - multiflowered of medium height (up to 35 cm), with light orange or orange-yellow flowers;
- Van Tubergen's variety - multiflowered, stunted with red flowers.
Breeders repeatedly tried to repeat T. praestans' successful hybridization experience with T. fosteriana , but failed. In cross-pollination of T. praestans and T. gesneriana, fertilization occurs, but the embryo always dies in the early stages of development [16] .
