The Black Pearl

The Black Pearl is only mentioned more to the end of the story and is seen as the only thing that can save the Windjammer family from utter ruin. Before being crushed by a barrel dislodged at the Windjammer warehouse Gerret tells Adam that he should have trusted Adam with role of the head of the house of Windjammer, not tradition and Adams uncle. Adam then asks Gerret what is going on and Gerret repplies that He has "bought a rare treasure known as the Black Pearl." However before Gerret can say any more a barrel is dislodged and Adam is saved by Gerret, who is subseqeuntley struck by the barrel.

Adam, never actually having seen pearl originally believing the Black pearl to be a jewel and listening to gerret Adam looks beneath the plum tree but is dismayed to find that there is no pearl. However it is later reveal that the black pearl is in fact a tulip.

The History of the Black Pearl
The idea of the black tulip has fired the imagination over the centuries. In 1672, Alexandre Dumas described in his novel how Cornelius van Baerle discovered 'La Tulipe Noire'. (See below). It wans't until 1891, however that the black tulip became a reality when the Dutch tulip grower Krelage brought a tulip onto the market with the name La Tulipe Noire despite the fact that it was more purple than black.

Other varieties of black tulip followed: Black Parrot, Black Beauty and Black Pearl. In 1895, Grullemans created the Queen of Night. But none of these varieties are a true black colour. During the mid1880's the grower and breeder Geert Jan Hageman had read Dumas' novel and fell under the spell of the mysterious black tulip. He crossed Wienerwald and Queen of Night to create the first tulip that genuinely seemed to be black. Hageman’s dream became reality.