82 DAFFODILS 



cheerful hoop-petticoat (N. bulbocodium), and the 

 gracefully poised N. cyclamineus, for which we have 

 no English name. N. triandrus, with reflexed sepals, 

 is a jewel for a nook in rockwork. Strange that 

 Linnseus should have dubbed it triandrus, which is a 

 misnomer. Working, probably, from a dried specimen 

 he counted but three stamens, whereas all the other 

 species have six. He was deceived by the peculiar 

 arrangement of these organs, which are set in two rows, 

 upper and lower. 



The best kinds of narcissus for naturalising in 

 meadow or woodland are (1) the common daffodil or 

 Lent lily and its varieties. It is probably indigenous 

 in some of the southern English counties, and has 

 made itself perfectly at home wherever it has been 

 given a chance between the Land's End and Cape 

 Wrath; (2) the nonpareil (N. incomparabilis) whereof 

 the exceeding grace, methinks, puts all its illegitimate 

 progeny in the shade; and (3) the best forms of the 

 poet's narcissus or pheasant's eye (N. poeticus). 



The last-named species has run into strains of vary- 

 ing merit; one should not be content with anything 

 short of the best, in which the segments of the corolla 

 are broad, flat, of firm substance, and marble white, 

 with a shallow gold cup, rimmed with scarlet, set in 

 their midst. Were this flower a costly orchid, it would 

 probably be hailed as the most perfect combination of 

 form, colour, grace, and fragrance in the whole company 

 of herbs. We have learnt to esteem it cheaply because 

 its generous nature and invincible hardihood have 

 made it one of the commonest of garden flowers. 



