957 



ral than those of the wild kind, but I think I have remarked consider- 

 able difference in this respect between individuals of the latter, and 

 the character is one too slight to lay much stress upon, being proba- 

 bly dependent on circumstances of soil or culture. Var. y. minor, 

 concolorous, segments of the perianth nearly flat, but little spreading; 

 plant smaller. N. Pseudo-narcissus, Brot. Fl. Lusit. i. p. 549, or N. 

 Pseudo-narcissus, 8. Bertol. Fl. Ital. (ut infra) ? Plentifully on the 

 high, steep and bushy bank behind Apse Farm, overlooking the gar- 

 den, in which it also grows plentifully, though appearing rather 

 to have descended to the grass plats beneath, than to have escaped 

 from the garden in which it has not become double. Differs from 

 the common state of the plant in having the perianth segments of 

 almost as deep a yellow as the cup, much less spreading, nearly 

 plane and scarcely at all twisted, narrower, firmer or less membrana- 

 ceous in texture, rounded or somewhat obtuse, with a minute but very 

 distinct apiculus. The whole plant, although variable in size, is 

 much smaller than the common form, which last is, I have little 

 doubt, the N. bicolor of Brotero, whilst our present variety is the N. 

 Pseudo-narcissus of the same author, and, as the late Professor Don 

 (to whom 1 showed it) thought, of Linneus also. It almost seems to 

 connect our ordinary wild form with the N. minor of the gardens, but 

 that is a very distinct and well-marked species, which is certainly not 

 the case with the variety we are now considering. 



The single wild daffodil, sharing the distrust so absurdly evinced 

 towards almost all our handsomer native flowers, has been supposed 

 of exotic origin, and to have been introduced by the monks in early 

 times, from being so often found near the ruins of monasteries; but 

 it is unquestionably indigenous to the south and middle of England, 

 and to most parts of Europe between the Mediterranean and the 

 Baltic, as far north as 54°, but scarcely higher, being wanting all over 

 Scandinavia and (except in a few suspicious places) in Denmark pro- 

 per. Here, it occurs profusely in the most sequestered localities, al- 

 though in earlier ages, when our gardens could boast of but little 

 variety, the more showy productions of our fields and groves would 

 naturally attract attention from the horticulturist, and escaping from 

 his care, be subsequently found established as often in the vicinity 

 of his operations as in their more natural localities. The approaches 

 to Rycle may be seen in early spring bestrewn with the simple yet 

 elegant blossoms of the daffodil, dropped by chance or flung by 

 caprice from the hand of childhood, just as I have seen the streets of 

 Nottingham at the same season sprinkled with the lovely spoils of 



