Tulip bulbs became the subject of the famous speculative crash known as tulip mania.
In the Dutch Republic during the 1630s, particular tulip varieties were traded at high prices, and contracts for bulbs attracted speculative interest. Tulips were fashionable luxury goods, and rare varieties could take years to produce in quantity.
The market collapsed in February 1637 after buyers failed to appear at an auction in Haarlem. Prices for some contracts fell sharply, though the exact scale of the collapse and its effect on the wider Dutch economy remain subjects of historical debate.
Modern accounts often portray tulip mania as a nationwide financial disaster, but historians have found that participation was more limited than popular stories suggest. The episode is still widely used as an example of speculative bubbles, in which prices become detached from practical or income-based value.