56 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSIP. 



ovary is inferior or adherent to the perianth-tube, 

 three-celled. Fruit a capsule, with several seeds, 

 opening in three valves. 



Though the Daffodil {N. Pseudo-narcissus) is a 

 rare plant in Scotland and Ireland, and in many parts 

 of England, it is by no means uncommon in Stafford- 

 shire, being found in Eaves Lane, Stoke Meadows, 

 Bagnall, Baddeley Edge, Stanley Hill, Chorlton, 

 Madeley, Lichfield, &c. At Skeet, a village near 



Fig. 44. — A. Daffodil {Narcissus Pseiuio-narcissus). 



Newcastle, the seat of the Rev. W. Sneyde, there is 

 a field called the Daffodil Meadow. It grows also at 

 Trentham, the seat of the Duke of Sutherland. It 

 was in 1873 when, for the first time, I saw the wild 

 Daffodil growing in a rich, lovely part of Staffordshire, 

 near Sandon, the seat of the Earl of Ilarrowby. 

 The meadows were full of them, looking like a cloth 

 of gold. I cannot find words better to describe the 



impression they made upon my mind when I 

 saw them than those of Wordsworth : — 



" I wander'd lonely as a cloud 

 That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 



When all at once I saw a crowd, 

 A host of golden Daffodils 

 Besides the stream, beneath the trees, 

 Fluttering and dancing to the breeze 



Continuous as the stars that shine 

 And twinkle on the Milky Way, 

 They stretch'd a never-ending line. 



Across the margin of a bay. 

 Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

 Tossing their heads in sprightly dance." 



first 



Fig. 4S. Floral Parts, &c., of Daffodil. 



I. Section of flower. 2. Section of leaf. 

 Leaves of Perianth. 4. Section o{ JJower-scape. 



It is in moist woods and thickets, as well as in rich 

 meadow-land, we must chiefly look for the Daffodils ; 

 though in the orchai'd belonging to the Hall where I 

 was visiting, they very thickly skirted the margin of 

 a pool ; indeed, all growing in this locality were finer 

 and more abundant along the banks of a brook or 

 stream forming one of the tributaries of the Trent. 



The popular names Daffodil, Daffodilly, and 

 Daffa-down-dilly, are in all probability corruptions 

 of the word Asphodel or Asphodelus. The old name 

 Lent Lilies had reference to the time when most of 

 the Narcissus family flower, while the name Chalice 

 Flowers had reference to the obconical form of the 



