2106 



NAPOLEONA 



NARCISSUS 



good stamens also connate at base. In the Flora of 

 Trop. Afr. the fls. are said to be red, white or blue. 

 Elsewhere it is stated that the fls. turn bluish as they 

 decay. The names and illustrations of the species are 

 confused. The names met in horticultural literature are 

 N. imperialis, Beauv., N. Heudelotii, Juss., N. Whit- 

 fieldii, Lena., N. Mdnnii, Miers, N. cuspidata, Miers, 

 N. Mlersii, Hook. f. In B.M. 7199, some of the syn- 

 onomy of the species is explained, with references to 

 figures. 



NARCISSUS (name probably derived from the story 

 of the youth Narcissus, in mythology). Amarylliddcese. 

 NARCISSUS. DAFFODIL. Well known and desirable 

 mostly spring-blooming bulbs, hardy and also used for 

 forcing. 



Plants with tunicated bulbs, from which arise the 

 foliage and the fl. -scapes: Ivs. linear or even subulate, 

 usually appearing with the bloom: fls. white, yellow or 

 seldom green, erect or pendent, solitary or umbellate on 

 the top of the scape or peduncle, the spathe 1-lvd. and 

 membranous; perianth salverform, the tube varying 

 in shape, the 6 segms. equal or nearly so and ascending, 

 spreading or reflexed, the throat bearing a corona or 

 crown which is long and tubular (trumpet daffodils), or 

 cup-shaped, or reduced to a ring; stamens 6, attached 

 in the perianth-tube, the filaments short or long; ovary 

 3-celled, the style filiform and the small stigma 3-lobed: 

 caps, membranous, loculicidal, bearing globose or 

 angled seeds. The species of Narcissus grow natively 



in Cent. Eu. and the 

 Medit. region and east- 

 ward through Asia to 

 China and Japan. 

 Many species-names 

 are in the literature, 

 most of them repre- 

 senting variants or hy- 

 brids, for the plants are 

 extensively cult, and 

 have received much 

 attention from fan- 

 ciers; probably 25 or 30 

 species represent the 

 original stocks. The 

 prominent species- 

 types from the horti- 

 cultural point of view 

 are N. Pseudo-Nards- 

 sm (the common daffo- 

 dil), N. Bulbocodium 

 (hoop-petticoat daffo- 

 dil), N. Tazetta (poly- 

 anthus narcissus), N. 

 Jonquilla (jonquil), N. poeticus (poet's narcissus). 



It is customary to throw the cultivated narcissi into 

 three main groups, founded on the length or size of the 

 crown or cup in the perianth: I. The true daffodils or 

 trumpets (Magnicoronati; Figs. 2437-2442), those with 

 crowns equaling or surpassing the perianth-segments 

 in length; here belong N. Pseudo-Narcissus, N. Bulbo- 

 codium. II. The star-narcissi or chalice-flowers 

 (Mediocoronati; Figs. 2443-2446), with crowns about 

 half the length of the segments, as N. triandrus, N. 

 incomparabilis. III. The true narcissi (Parvicoronati; 

 Figs. 2447-2450), in which the crown is very short or 

 reduced to a run, as N. poeticus, N. Jonquilla and N. 

 Tazetta. With the introduction of hybrid races, this old 

 and usual classification becomes confused. It is sug- 

 gested, therefore, by S. Eugene Bourne, an English 

 authority, in "The Garden," "that the first step to an 

 improved classification a step which requires a very 

 slight alteration in the present system should be to 

 form group I exclusively of true daffodils, and group 

 III exclusively of true narcissi. All seedlings resulting 

 from the union of two true daffodils should be placed 



2437. Narcissus Bulbocodium var. 

 monophyllus. (X%) 



in group I, all those from the union of two true narcissi 

 in group III. All cross-bred forms containing both true 

 daffodil and true narcissus blood should be put with the 

 two species of intermediate character, Triandrus and 

 Juncifolius, in group II, to be called, perhaps, inter- 

 mediate narcissi. In subdividing this middle group, 

 forms having special characteristics must be carefully 

 distinguished from each other (for example, hybrids 

 of Triandrus from hybrids of Poeticus, and so on), but 

 subject to such distinctions, arbitrary crown-perianth 

 measurements would be usefully employed." Dis- 

 carding, for the garden forms, the older grouping into 

 the three crown-lengths, the Royal Horticultural 

 Society recently adopted eleven groups of Narcissi, as 

 follows (subdivisions omitted except in I) : 



I. TRUMPET DAFFODILS. Trumpet or crown as 

 long as or longer than the perianth-segments. 



Yellow. Perianth and trumpet yellow. 

 White. Perianth and trumpet white. 

 Bicolor. Perianth white, trumpet yellow. 



II. INCOMPARABILIS. Cup or crown not less than 

 one-third but less than equal to the length 

 of the perianth-segments. 

 in. BARRII. Cup or crown less than one-third the 



length of the perianth-segments. 

 IV. LEEDSII. Perianth white, and cup or crown 

 white, cream or pale citron, sometimes 

 tinged with pink or apricot; embracing dif- 

 ferent dimensions. 

 V. TRIANDRUS HYBRIDS. 

 VI. CYCLAMINEUS HYBRIDS. 

 VII. JONQUILLA HYBRIDS. 

 VIII. TAZETTA AND TAZETTA HYBRIDS. 



Poetaz. Hybrids between Poeticus and Polyanthus sorts. 



DC. POETICUS VARIETIES. 

 X. DOUBLE VARIETIES. 



XI. VARIOUS. To include N. Bulbocodium, N. cycla- 

 mineus, N. triandrus, N. Juncifolius, N. Jon- 

 quilla, N. Tazetta (sp.), N. viridiflorus, etc. 



In the present account, it is desired to keep the type- 

 species in view, and therefore a botanical classification 

 is followed. In this systematic treatment, use has been 

 made of Bourne's "Book of the Daffodil," although it is 

 founded on Baker's "Handbook of the Amaryllidese." 

 A "Key to the Daffodils" by Wilhelm Miller and Leon- 

 ard Barron in Kirby's "Daffodils, Narcissus and How to 

 Grow Them," New York, 1907, arranges the species 

 and the main garden races. In this systematic account, 

 only the main types or well-recognized races are 

 described; other forms will be found in the supplemen- 

 tary list at the end of the article. 



Into the second or medium-crowned group may be 

 placed a number of good and popular horticultural 

 strains which are actually or presumably hybrids 

 between long-crowns (or trumpets) and short-crowns. 

 Very likely N. incomparabilis and N. odorus are them- 

 selves hybrid series. Forms of N. triandrus might very 

 well be classed with the long-crowns. The other gar- 

 den series in this group are undoubtedly of hybrid 

 origin, as: N. Barrii (Fig. 2446) had yielded about 

 fifty named forms when Baker wrote in 1888. It is 

 one-flowered: perianth-segments spreading, somewhat 

 imbricated, to \}/ inches long, sulfur-yellow, twice or 

 more the length of the crown, the latter somewhat 

 expanded, yellow and more or less margined with 

 darker yellow or red. N. Leedsii is one-flowered: 

 flowers slightly drooping, with spreading milk-white 

 segments twice or more the length of cup-shaped 

 very pale yellow crown, which usually changes to white. 

 Other group-series, as N. Humei, N. tridymus, N. 

 Backhousei, will be found in the supplementary list 

 (page 2113). 



