ON DAFFODILS AND NARCISSI 137 



the Narcissus ; for bread is the food of the body, but 

 Narcissus is the food of the soul." 



The Jonquil is a Narcissus, and the word comes 

 homjunafoltus, which means rush-leaved. The Jonquil 

 is therefore the Rush-leaved Daffodil. 



The old English Daffodil, the Daffodil of Shake- 

 speare, is the Lent Lily, Narcissus pseudo-Narcissus 

 of botanists. It is a native of this country. It is a 

 cheap plant, and those who feel an interest in it may, 

 if they like, plant it in quantity. But the modern 

 Daffodils are so enormously superior that the Lent Lily 

 does not receive so much attention as it used to do. 

 It is, of course, thoroughly hardy, and it will grow 

 almost anywhere. In heavy moist soil it multiplies 

 almost too fast. 



Classification. There are so many different types of 

 Narcissus that a person used to the ways of florists will 

 assume that they have been classified. They have. 

 The old system was to group them according to the 

 size of the central cup or crown. They were classified 

 in three groups Large-Crowns, Medium-Crowns, and 

 Small-Crowns (Magni-Coronati, Medio-Coronati, Parvi- 

 Coronati). The true Daffodils, in which the crown was 

 so large as to become a "trumpet," were Magni-Coronati, 

 the Chalice-flowered were Medio-Coronati, and the Poet's 

 Narcissi were Parvi-Coronati. This system served until 

 the florists had mixed up the sections by hybridising, 

 when it broke down. Another was formulated, in which 

 eleven groups were made, as follows: 



1. Trumpets. 6. Cyclamineus hybrids. 



2. Incomparabilis. 7. Jonquilla hybrids. 



3. Barri (including Burbidgei). 8. Tazetta and Tazetta hybrids. 



4. Leedsi. 9. Poeticus varieties. 



5. Triandrus hybrids. 10. Doubles. 



ii. Various. 



