NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



677 



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 (Jonquil}. Long known 

 in gardens, and imported from Italy and 

 Holland for forcing in pots. Much grown 

 at Grasse, Cannes, etc., 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 Jo?iquil\ A 

 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 crenulate 

 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 Jonquit). 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 (Poets or Pheasants-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's new seedlings, 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- 

 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 several 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 Rev. 

 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, 



