NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



679 



the Grass is the only place in which to 

 grow it permanently. 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 Awake, 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, Exquisite, 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 

 praecox (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 

 in 1885, and figured in Bot. Mag., 7012 ; 

 it is a natural hybrid, between N. pseudo- 

 narcissus and N. triandrus, and is vari- 

 able, Mr. Tait having in March 1892, 

 sent me a bicolor form (Garrett x N. 

 triandrus albus). The best forms are N. 

 Johnstoni (type), Queen of Spain, Mrs. 

 Geo. Cammell, Pelayo, and Mr. Tail's 

 new bicolor form to which I have above 



Hybrid Narcissus Snowdrop. 



alluded. The Rev. G. H. Engleheart 

 has repeated crosses between the parent 

 species, and has produced a pale sulphur or 

 white Johnstoni (Snowdrop) and others. 



N. Tazetta (Polyanthus or Bunch Nar- 

 cissus). This is the classical Narcissus 

 of Homer and other poets, Greek and 

 Roman the flower of a hundred heads 

 that delights all men, and lends a glory 

 to the sea and the sky. Tazetta is focused 

 in the Mediterranean Basin, but extends 

 from the Canary Islands to the north 

 of India and to Japan. It has long been 

 naturalised in the Scilly Isles and in 

 Cornwall ; but its early habit of growth, 

 acquired in more sunny climes, often 

 with us causes the flowers to be injured 

 by frosts and storms. These Narcissi are 

 hardy on warm dry soils, and as pot-plants 

 many of them are handsome, while in deep, 

 warm, sandy borders, which are sheltered 



