I associate Tulips with rather tame floral displays in parks and gardens so they don't really feature in my wild gardening and botanical musings. Then again I imagine their natural habitat -the steppes and mountains of Kazakhstan- is altogether different!

 There is however one species which grows wild in the UK: Tulipa sylvestris. Even so it is probably an introduction that has naturalised from Eurasian and/or North African origins. The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland notes that T. sylvestris was in cultivation in Britain by 1596 and recorded in the wild by 1790.

 In my experience it doesn't prosper when planted in London clay and part shade (despite the epithet sylvestris). It has fared better in a sunny spot on the allotment in Hertfordshire (as seen above) where the soil is thin and calcareous.