What is the national flower of Afghanistan?
Despite the obvious answers of other contributors e.g. poppy and other facile views, one person was partially correct in saying that Afghanistan does not have any particular flower as one of its national emblems. However, one flower could be claimed to be its true national flower – AND IT AIN’T THE POPPY! It just so happens that the poppy seems to grow well there! The flower which comes closest to being an Afghan native is the TULIP. Although tulips may be associated with Holland, both the flower and its name originated in the Persian Empire. The tulip is actually not a Dutch flower as many people tend to believe. The tulip, or “Laleh” as it’s called in Persian, is a flower indigenous to Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and other parts of Central Asia. Which parts of a tulip one might smoke, sniff or otherwise ingest I don’t know – and anyway “Tulips from Afghanistan” might not ever be a very popular song.