76 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



as if he were the first founder thereof, and call it by 

 his own name, Wilmer's double daffodil," — a pro- 

 ceeding justly condemned by the botanists and 

 avenged by time ; for whereas to-day one looks in 

 vain for Wilmer in the ordinary catalogue, Van- 

 Sion, whether or no named after the " industrious 

 lover of fair flowers," is a household word with 

 daffodil growers. 



In seventeenth-century England, as well as Hol- 

 land, they would seem to have been interested in 

 the raising of Narcissi and the varying of the sorts. 

 We have Gerrards Daffodil, and Parkinsons 

 Daffodil, and the Great Rose Daffodil of one John 

 Tradecant. It should be remembered that nar- 

 cissus and daffodil were synonymous terms with 

 the old writers, the one being regarded as the Latin, 

 the other as the English name of the family. It 

 must also be admitted that they classed as Narcissi 

 things that we do not reckon as such, for instance, 

 the Strange Sea Daffodil of Parkinson's list, a 

 plant which, from picture and description, one is 

 inclined to identify as a dark-coloured Agapanthus. 

 Also the White Sea Bastard Daffodil, which Clusius 

 tells us is so poisonous that it was " deadly to him 

 that did but cut his meat with that knife which had 

 immediately before cut this root." Another nar- 



