Daffodils Everyone Should Know— By Thomas McAdam 7. 



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THE SIX SPECIES OF NARCISSUS THAT HAVE ALWAYS FASCINATED MANKIND — A FLOWER THAT WILL MAKE 

 SPRING COME TWO WEEKS EARLIER— A BULB THAT GROWS IN A BOWL OF WATER AND BLOSSOMS IN FORTY DAYS 



TT is a significant fact that the daffodil and 

 -*■ narcissus seem to have forged ahead of 

 the hyacinth in popularity, and now rank 

 second only to the tulip among spring bulbs. 

 It is easy to see why the tulip should be the 

 favorite, because it has the largest flowers, 

 the greatest range of colors and the most vivid 

 hues. The hyacinth also has a wide range of 

 colors and huge spikes of flowers. But the 

 daffodil and narcissus are at the other ex- 

 treme from these big, showy things; their 

 beauty is of the diminutive, slender, delicate 

 type. (Peter Barr says that some narcissi 

 seem "fainting away, evaporating into air, as 

 you look at them"; and that this "die-away 

 languor is in consonance with the myth.") 

 They have only two colors — white and yel- 

 low. Their variation in form can be com- 

 prehended in a moment. Yet there are 

 hundreds of named varieties, and some 

 of them, when new, have sold for $125 

 a bulb! Moreover, it was Mohammed 

 who said: "If I had but two loaves 

 of bread in the world, I should sell one 

 of them and buy narcissi to feed my 

 soul." * 



I think I know why this pale, modest flower 

 goes straight to the hearts of men. It is a 

 flower of the spirit, and you cannot resist the 

 appeal of a brave spirit in a fragile form. 

 Humanity's admiration of its hardihood in 

 coming before the winter really leaves is ex- 

 pressed in these thrilling picture-words of 

 Shakespeare : 



"Daffodils 

 That come before the swallow dares 

 The winds of March with beauty." 



and take 



*Can 

 T. McA 



.nyone give me the original form of this quotation? 



All daffodils belong to the genus Narcissus. 

 A daffodil is a flower that has a trumpet, like 

 Fig. 182, and the typical variety is the yellow 

 one that grows wild in England. The typical 

 narcissus is the poet's narcissus (Fig. 180), 

 a white flower with a small, saucer-shaped 

 "crown" instead of a long trumpet. The 

 distinguishing feature of the genus Narcissus 

 is the presence of this crown, and the differ- 

 ent species fall into three groups, according 

 as the crown is shaped like a saucer, a cup 

 or a trumpet. 



There are six species that everyone ought 

 to know, and the following "key" shows at a 

 glance how each one differs from every other. 



A. Crown small, saucer shaped. 

 B. Leaves flat. 



C. Flowers i or 2 on a stalk. Poet's Narcissus 

 CC. Flowers 4-12 on a stalk. 



Polyanthus Narcissus 

 BB. Leaves cylindrical, rush-like. Jonquil 



AA. Crown medium sized, cup shaped. 



Peerless Narcissus 

 AAA. Crown large, trumpet shaped. 



B. Leaves flat. Daffodil 



BB. Leaves cylindrical, rush-like. Hoop Petticoat 



THE TRUE NARCISSUS 



The flower which the Greeks named nar- 

 cissus is supposed to be the one which the 

 botanists call Narcissus poeticus. The old 

 English name for the poet's narcissus is 

 Pheasant's Eye, referring to the saucer of the 

 flower, which is margined with orange-red. 

 This species grows a foot and a half high 



and usually bears only one flower on a stalk, 

 but the variety biflorus and some others often 

 have twin flowers. Three or four varieties 

 of this species will maintain a constant suc- 

 cession from March until the end of May. 

 The Pheasant's Eye, which is the cheapest, 

 most productive and most fragrant, is also the 

 latest, blooming the latter half of May. For 

 the first half of May the variety ornatus is 

 best. Though not so fragrant as the Pheas- 



178. Dafiodiis naturalized in me jail grass, where they will multiply without care indefinitely . In June 

 the leaves of the daffodils are decaying while the bulbs are ripening, and the hay can be cut without damaging 

 next year's crop of flowers. This enthusiast is said to have planted 250,000 daffodils 



125 



179. Every narrow little strip along a home pain 

 can be made radiant in spring by planting bulbs in 

 the fall. Hyacinths and big, rich, yellow, double Van 

 Sion daffodils 



ant's Eye, it has a larger, more symmetrical 

 flower, with an orange saucer. For March 

 and April bloom, the star narcissi {Narcissus 

 Burbidgei) are especially adapted. As long 

 ago as 1 884 there were fifty varieties of the Bur- 

 bidge type, and all of them have a crown which 

 is midway in length between a saucer and a cup. 



The poet's narcissus is a flower with a mis- 

 sion. It was divinely appointed to fill the 

 gap between winter and spring, before the 

 trees show signs of life and while the land- 

 scape is bare and dead. It is the dreariest 

 moment of the year, and if it were not for the 

 gay little crocuses it would be intolerable. 

 But the narcissus is the only flower that is 

 strong enough to vanquish winter and en- 

 throne the spring. We have it in our power 

 to make spring come two weeks earlier, by 

 planting narcissi by the thousand. It is per- 

 fectly practicable. The bulbs cost from $5 

 to $7 a thousand, and if rightly placed they 

 will multiply indefinitely without care, though 

 it is better to dig them up every five or six 

 years, or whenever they show signs of too 

 great competition. 



There are five kinds of places where nar- 

 cissi may be naturalized by the thousand — 

 orchards, woods, shrubberies, meadows, and 

 the banks of streams, lakes or ponds. In 

 such places, the grass need not be cut until 

 June, if at all, and by that time the leaves of 

 the narcissus have decayed, showing that the 

 bulbs are ripening. If the grass is cut before, 

 the bulbs will be weakened. The cheapest 



