156 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



THE DAFFODIL (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, L.). 



The Daffodil or Lent Lily is found growing wild in many 

 parts of England, and is cultivated everywhere for the sake of 

 its flowers. Whether it is a truly native plant or one of those 

 we owe to the Roman occupation of Britain is uncertain. In 

 any case the plant grows successfully in pastures, copses, and 

 by the banks of streams, sending up its long green leaves and 

 single flower each spring, while the bulb is hidden and protected 

 beneath the ground. The appearance of the plant is well shown 

 in the photographs in the accompanying Plate. 



The general course of the annual history of the Daffodil re- 

 sembles that of the Tulip and many other bulbous plants. The 

 bulb, hidden in the ground, already contains in the autumn 

 the leaves and flower, which will appear and grow to their full 

 size in the spring. The foliage-leaves remain exposed to the 

 light and air throughout the early summer, after the flower 

 has given rise to a fruit or has withered, and then in turn die 

 down. The food material manufactured by the foliage-leaves 

 is carried down and stored in their basal parts, and in the bases 

 of some outer leaves which do not bear leaf -blades. These 

 leaf -bases form the bulb of the next season. It is at the expense 

 of the material stored in this bulb that the growth of the shoot 

 and flower of the following spring will take place. 



The bulb of the Daffodil is best examined in a specimen in 

 which the shoot is commencing to grow in the winter or in a 

 flowering specimen in spring. A number of long, unbranched, 

 white roots will be found, growing down from the base of the 

 stem. The construction of the bulb will be best appreciated if 

 two specimens are taken, one of which is split in half lengthways 

 while the other is cut across with a sharp knife. On the outside 

 are some thin withered brownish scales ; these are the remains 

 of the leaf -bases of the season before last. Within these come 

 the sheathing white bases of the leaves of last season ; these 

 constitute the bulb-scales. They are arranged in two rows, 

 each leaf standing a little higher on the short stem, and opposite 

 to the preceding one. The outermost three of these scales were 

 the bases of scale-leaves, while the inner two or three belonged 



