NARCISSUS POETICUS AND ITS ALLIES 3 
of the sae British and Continental authors who have paid 
attention to the 
A 
form, the Pheasant’s Eye (N. recurvus), never flowers before May, 
and is distinguished by its recurved and much larger leaves, a 
inflexed, and a distinctly though shortly ie corona. These 
two plants have the facies of two distinct spec 
In British botany four forms of cinaile-flowerod Poet’s Narcissi 
sey ences and figured as early as 1597 in Gerard’s Herbal, 
p — 
1. N. medio purpureus. ‘ Purple circled Daffodil.” Stated 
to bear in ‘the middle of the flower a small yellow coronet with a , 
purple circle, and clearl fired as a large- ae age with 
ovate-oblong, imbricate and recurved perianth-se. 
2. N. medio fe ‘pureus precox. ‘Timely jincoli ceri Daffo- 
dill.” Stated to be a somewhat lesser plant, and figured with 
smaller stellate flowers. 
S. medto purpureus shea b Distinguished by broad, 
flat leaves dashing over at the tip, and figured with small stellate 
flowers ; still earlier flowering. 
4. N. medio purpureus precocissimus. The smallest plant and 
first to flower; figured with stellate flowers. 
According to Gerard, No. 1 flowers in April and the other 
three in February (Old Style Calendar). 
these four Fora one only appears as a species in Johnson's 
Gerard, p. 193 (1633), where i is described under Gerard’s name 
medio purpureus, with a fresh figure copied from Dodonzus’s 
Pemptades. Gerard’s fou yaacee are discarded, and his remaining 
forms are only briefly alluded to. 
Meanwhile, a second elaborate account of the Poet’s Narcissi 
a8 
1. N. mediocroceus serotinus. A form with narrow leaves and 
stellate flowers, with small round saffron- -edged cup. 
2. N. medio purpureus precox (p. 75, f. 3). Said - be very 
sweet scented, with a flat yellow cup, bordered with red o 
and shown in ca figure with waved, obovate, slightly shaketaate 
perianth-segmen 
3. N. medio ene setae Described as having a larger 
bulb, broad leaves, large flow i reer segments, and the 
edge of the corona ioaisiaes paler 
io purpureus maximus ie 75, f. 2). Stated to be 
still larger in all its parts, and figured with broadly oval, 
