700 



NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



isation. They are so variable in habit, 

 size, shape, and colour that any number 

 of varieties could be selected from them. 

 The June-flowering double form of N. 

 patellaris, or Gardenia Narcissus, is very 

 fine. It does well on deep sandy borders. 

 It is a shy flowerer, and many of its buds 

 go blind, so that half the stock should be 

 transplanted every year in August. N. 

 stellaris, the latest single form of N. 

 poeticus, flowers in June. Some very fine 

 and shapely seedlings of N. poeticus have 

 been raised by Mr. Engleheart. 



N. pseudo-narcissus {Common Daffo- 

 dil). — There are se\eral hundred varieties 

 of the Common Daffodil, either wild or 

 cultivated. The only native of Britain is 

 the common English kind, which extends 

 from Cornwall to Fife, and is specially 

 plentiful in the south-eastern counties. In 

 Normandy, Daffodils by millions light up 

 the woods in April, while many fine forms 

 are wild in Spain and in the Pyrenean 

 region, and the richest of golden Daffodils 

 come from Spain and Portugal. The Re\-. 

 C. Wolley Dod found N. maximus grow- 

 ing between Dax and Bayonne, probably 

 naturalised. Nearly all Daffodils do well 

 on Grass, if the soil be at all suitable ; 

 and as regards our wild English Daffodil, 

 the Grass is the only place in which to 

 grow it permanentl)-. Daffodils are 

 usually divided into three groups : first, 

 golden Daffodils, such as N. maximus, 

 Tenby, and spurius ; secondly, bicolors, 

 such as John Horsfield, Empress, Grandee, 

 &c. ; thirdly, sulphur and white kinds, such 

 as Exquisite, and the white Daffodils, such 

 as the wild Pyrenean and N. moschatus. 

 Nearly all the golden kinds are robust and 

 easily grown, and the bicolor group are 

 even more so, but, speaking broadly, the 

 delicate sulphur and the white sorts are 

 tender and unsatisfactory, except on the 

 most favourable soils. The following are 

 the best in each group : — 



Golden Daffodil Group — Abscissus (mu- 

 ticus), Ard Righ, Emperor, Countess 

 of Annesley, Bastemil, Captain Nelson, 

 spurius, coronatus (General Gordon), Gol- 

 den Spur, Distinction, obvallaris, Henry 

 Irving, Glory of Leyden, Golden Prince, 

 Golden Plover, Golden Vase, Her Majesty, 

 John Nelson, spurius, major, maximus, 

 M. J. Berkeley, and Mrs. Elwes. Nanus 

 and minor are dwarf varieties, minimus is 

 the smallest of all the Daffodils. Shake- 

 speare, Hodsock's Pride, Fred. Moore, 

 Wide .4 wake. Marchioness of Headfort, P. 

 R. Barr, rugilobus, Santa Maria, Samson, 

 Sir W. Harcourt, Townshend, Boscawen, 

 Stanfield, Croom a Boo (Ard Righ with a 

 frilled trumpet), Weardale Perfection, 



" Ellen Willmott," Monarch, and many 

 others are not as yet much grown. 



Bicolor Group — Empress, John Hors- 

 field, Grandee, Dean Herbert, Michael Fos- 

 ter, Alfred Parsons, George C. Barr, Harri- 

 son Weir, J. B. M. Camm, John Parkinson, 

 Mrs. Walter Ware, Mad. Plemp, T. A. 

 Dorien Smith, and variiformis. Carrie 

 Plemp, Princess Colibri, Duchess of Teck, 

 and Victoria are new kinds. 



White and Sulphur-flowered Group — 

 Moschatus, albicans (Leda), cernuus (very 

 variable), Cecilia de Graaff, Colleen 

 Bawn, cernuus pulcher, C. W. Cowan, 

 Dr. Hogg, E.xquisite, J. G. Baker (volu- 

 tus), F. W. Burbidge, Lady Grosvenor, 

 Galatea, Mme. de Graaff, Mrs. F. W. 

 Burbidge, Mrs. J. B. M. Camm, Mrs. 

 Thompson, Helen Falkiner, pallidus 



Hybrid Narcissus Snowdrop. 



prtecox (the variable sulphur Daffodil of 

 Biarritz and Bayonne), pallidus asturicus, 

 Princess Ida, Sarnian Belle, tortuosus, 

 Wm. Goldring, W. P. Milner, Minnie 

 Warren, Countess of Desmond, Robert 

 Boyle, Silver Bar, Mrs. Vincent. 



The best of the double Daffodils are — 

 Telamonius plenus (Van Sion), very free 

 and robust, naturalised everywhere ; 

 double English, minor plenus (Rip van 

 Winkle) ; lobularis plenus ; Scoticus 

 plenus ; plenissimus (Parkinson's great 

 rose double) ; capax plenus (Eystet- 

 tensis), an exquisitely pretty and pale six- 

 rowed double, but requiring a warm 

 sandy soil, and remarkable as being a 

 distinct double, of which the single type 

 is unknown ; Cernuus, C. bicinctus ; the 

 last do well in warm, stony soils, and, like 

 other delicate kinds, enjoy the company 

 of tree, shrub, or Rose roots. 



Johnstoni (Johnston's hybrid Daffodil) 

 was found by Mr. A. W. Tait near Oporto ' 



