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NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



Of Barr's Peerless (N. Barrii, hybrids), 

 the best are Conspicuus and Sensation, 

 but Golden Star, Crown Prince, Flora 

 Wilson, Miriam, Barton, Orphee, General 

 Murray, Albatross, Sea Gull, Maurice Vil- 

 morin, and Dorothy E. Wemyss are all 

 ^ood, and are useful for extended culture 

 on Grass or for cut flowers. 



The Burbidge hybrids are like the 

 Barrii forms, but have small crowns. 

 Their chief value lies in the freedom and 

 ■earliness of their bloom, as they open days 

 before even ornatus — the early April form 

 of N. poeticus. The best varieties are 

 Burbidgei (type), Agnes Barr, Beatrice 

 Hesehine, Baroness Heath, Constance, 

 Crown Princess, Ellen Barr, John Bain, 

 Little Dirk,Model, Mrs. Krelage,and Mary. 



Of Leeds' silver star forms the best are 

 exquisite on good sandy soils, and their 

 whiteness and delicate purity and grace 

 render them most acceptable as cut 

 flowers. The best are : N. Leedsii (type), 

 amabilis, Beatrice, Hon. Mrs. Barton, 

 Katherine Spurrell, Duchess of West- 

 minster, Madge Matthew, elegans, Minnie 

 Hume, superbus. Princess of Wales, 

 Magdalina de Graafif, Gem, Grand 

 Duchess, Acis, and Palmerston. 

 Hume's hybrids are deformed Daffodils, 

 the best being Giant and concolor. 

 Sabine's hybrid (N. Sabinei) is a bold white 

 bicolor, with a shortened trumpet, and so 

 ■are the so-called Backhouse hybrids — 

 Wolley Dod and William Wilks, a shapely 

 and effective flower of good substance 

 and with vigorous leaves. 



More starry, but with smaller cups, are 

 Nelson's hybrids ; tall, free, and distinct 

 habit ; the best, Nelsoni major, minor, pul- 

 chellus (perfect shape), Mrs. C. J. Back- 

 house, aurantius (orange-red cup), and 

 William Backhouse. Collected bulbs of N. 

 Bernardi are very variable in size and 

 form, and some, like E. Buxton, have fine 

 orange-red cups, which resemble Nelson's 

 aurantius. N. tridymus is a variable 

 hybrid between the Daffodil and N. 

 Tazetta with two to three flowers on a 

 scape. 



N. jonquilla (/^;7^;«/).— Long known 

 ■in gardens, and imported from Italy and 

 Holland for forcing in pots. Much grown 

 •at Grasse, Cannes, &c., for its perfume. 

 N. stellaris has narrow perianth lobes, 

 and N. jonquilloides is a robust form 

 from Spain. The varieties gracilis and 

 tenuior are now supposed to be hybrids 

 between the Jonquil and some other 

 species, or between N. intermedius and 

 juncifolius, N. intermedius itself being a 

 hybrid between some form of N. Tazetta 

 and the Jonquil. The Jonquil, when 



strongly grown on a warm border, is 

 handsome and very sweet, and N. gracilis 

 is the latest of all single Narcissi, 

 as it blooms with N. poeticus fl.-pl. in 

 May or early June. The double Jonquil 

 is rarely seen doing well in open ground, 

 but as a pot plant it is handsome. S. 

 France and Spain. 



N. juncifolius {Rush Jonquil).— Pi. 

 small plant, suitable only for sheltered 

 borders, for stone edgings, and for pot- 

 culture in a cold frame. It is very variable, 

 and rupicola, minutiflorus, and scaberulus 

 are well-known variations. Its small Jon- 

 quil-scented flowers have very large cups, 

 often widely expanded, which are crenelate 

 at their edges. The var. rupicola flowers 

 and seeds annually in the rock-garden at 

 Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, and seems 

 hardier than the type. 



N. odorus {Great Jonquil). — This 

 plant, although found wild in S. France, 

 Portugal, and N. Spain, is now believed 

 to be a hybrid = N. jonquilla x N. pseudo- 

 narcissus. The leaves are rushy, and 

 two or three yellow starry flowers are 

 borne on each scape. The best kinds are 

 N. odorus (Campernelle), and rugulosus, 

 a more robust form, with larger flowers. 

 A double form, very handsome on 

 warm soils, is known as Queen Anne's 

 Jonquil. 



N. poeticus {Poefs or Pheasanfs-eye 

 Narcissus). — One of the oldest, sweetest, 

 and most popular of garden flowers, and 

 erroneously supposed to be the Narcissus 

 of the Greek poets. It is widely distributed 

 in France and Germany, and extends to 

 the Pyrenees. In upland meadows of 

 the Pyrenees it is very abundant in June 

 and July. It flowers from the beginning 

 of April until June. The older forms of 

 N. poeticus are now far surpassed by Mr. 

 Engleheart'snewseedlings, such as Dante, 

 Petrarch, and many others. N. ornatus is 

 now grown by the million for Easter decora- 

 tion. N. grandiflorus is a very large floppy 

 variety, N. poetarum has a saffron-red 

 crown, and N. tripodalis has reflexed seg- 

 ments and a bold crimson-scarlet ring. 

 The typical N. poeticus is a tall plant, with 

 a small shapely flower, but is not often seen. 

 N. Marvel has a bladder-like spathe like an 

 Allium, and a pale and shapely flower. N. 

 patellaris has a broad crown and a saffron 

 rim, and blooms late ; but the form usually 

 met with early in May is N. recurvus, the 

 Pheasant's-eye of cottage-gardens. N. 

 recurvus has a green eye and a crimson- 

 fringed crown. All the forms, especially 

 ornatus and recurvus, naturalise perfectly, 

 and of recent years bulbs have been dug on 

 the Pyrenees by the thousand for natural- 



