REVIEW OF THE GENUS NARCISSUS. 29 



Leaf. — There are two well-marked types of leaf with intermediate 

 gradations ; one kind, rusli-like in shape, and nearly or quite round in 

 horizontal section ; the other, though rather thicker in the middle than 

 towards the edge, yet nearly flat in the upper half, but becoming con- 

 vex on the back and slightly concave on the face, as it descends to 

 clasp the base of the scape. We have good examples of the rnsh-like 

 type of leaf in Narcissus jmicifoUus and Jonquilla, and of the nearly 

 flat kind, attaining a breadth of half an inch or more, in N. Tazetta 

 and Pseudo-Narcissus. In N. odorus and N. intermedius we have a 

 half-cylindrical leaf with a deep channel down the face, and in several 

 kinds a less convex leaf, two or three lines broad. The rush-like and 

 semi-cylindrical leaves are always a bright glossy green ; those that 

 are nearly flat are usually more or less covered with a glaucous bloom. 

 In all, except one of the autumn-flowering species, the leaves are con- 

 temporary with the flowers. 



Scape. — In most of the species the scape is more or less compressed, 

 with a raised line on the two opposite edges (ancipitous) ; in a few it 

 is nearly or qidte round in horizontal section (terete). In N. Pseudo- 

 Narcissus, N. Bulhocodiuni, N. poeticus, and N. incomparabilis, it is 

 essentially single-flowered ; but generally there is a tendency to pro- 

 duce more than one flower, and in some of the varieties of -A^. Tazetta 

 we have as many as a dozen or even twenty. The spathe has never 

 more than a single valve. Sometimes the flower is nearly sessile in 

 the spathe, but more usually the pedicels are nearly or quite as long as 

 the spathe. 



Tube of the Perianth. — The tube is generally as long as or rather 

 longer than the divisions of the perianth. In all but two species it is 

 a slender cylinder, slightly dilated at the throat, or a funnel with a 

 narrow neck ; but in N. Pseudo-Narcissus and N. Bulbocodium it is 

 shaped like a reversed cone. 



Divisions of the Perianth, — In N, Broussonetii and the two species 

 just mentioned, the divisions of the perianth form permanently an 

 acute angle with the crown. In N. calalhinus and N. triandrus they 

 become decidedly reflexed when the flower expands ; but in the majo- 

 rity of the species they spread out from the base of the crown hori- 

 zontally, being usually broad enough to wrap over one another ; but 

 in the three autumn-flowering species very narrow, and narrowed gra- 

 dually from the base to a sharp point. 



