The present study focused on the application of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) to embryogenic callus of tulip to verify its impact on the differentiation and development of somatic embryos to improve efficiency of tulip somatic embryogenesis. ABA (1 or 10 µM) and fluridone (10 or 100 µM) were applied to embryogenic, nodular callus for one week. The favorable post-treatment effect of 10 µM ABA was observed ten weeks after its application, in the form of the highest number of torpedo-shaped somatic embryos (15.8 per 1 g of embryogenic callus) and then also in the highest percentage of embryos converting to plants (9.8%). These results are even four times higher in comparison to previous reports. ABA concentration of 1 µM turned out to be too low to enhance the differentiation of tulip somatic embryos. Fluridone treatments were similar to control. Endogenous content of ABA immediately after ABA/fluridone treatment was the highest (15.68 nmol g^-1 dry weight (DW)) in the case of 10 µM ABA treated embryos, and the lowest (2.62 - 2.37 nmol g^-1 DW) after fluridone treatments. The post-treatment effect of 100 µM fluridone resulted in the lowest ABA content (2.18 nmol g^-1 DW) in ten-week culture. ABA content in ABA post-treated cultures was similar to control. High endogenous ABA content in embryogenic cells promotes differentiation and development of tulip somatic embryos.