96 FLORA HISTORIC^. 



We have now many different species of this 

 flower cultivated in our gardens ; yet the ornament- 

 ing of our parterres with a succession of early- 

 flowering bulbous plants has rather diminished than 

 increased for some years past : we cannot, however, 

 recommend a more desirable class of plants to the 

 notice of the florist than that of the Narcissus, 

 one of which, distinguished as the Poetic or White 

 Narcissus, is said to be indigenous to our soil, as 

 also to the South of France, Carniola, Switzerland, 

 as well as to the more genial climes where the poet 

 gave it so much celebrity. This Narcissus seldom 

 produces seed in England even by the assistance of 

 cultivation, and we are, therefore, of opinion that 

 the few plants which have been found at Shorne, 

 between Gravesend and Rochester, as well as those 

 discovered in Norfolk, are the offsets from imported 

 plants, probably of as early a date as the time of 

 the Romans, who, we may naturally conclude, 

 would not fail to plant the flower of their favourite 

 poet, when we discover that they paved the floors 

 of their dwellings in this country with tesellse that 

 represented his tales. 



The Poet's Narcissus produces but one flower 

 on each stalk, which inclines to one side, and takes 

 a horizontal position. The corolla is of a pure 

 white, and expands quite flat, the petals being 

 rounded at the points. The cup or nectary in the 



