348 



On the Cultivation of Rare Plants. 



fortnight earlier than those from Mill Hill, when planted 

 close together : in the latter a strange difference of smell 

 occurs, for among many flowers growing in the same field, 

 which exhale the usual narcotic odour, some few will be 

 found with a totally different and pleasant smell, like that of 

 a Polyanthus ; and this difference is permanent in the flowers 

 of that bulb and its offspring. I have only met with such 

 roots twice, near Kirkstall Abbey, in Yorkshire, and in a field 

 behind the King's Head Inn, in Mill Hill; but in both places 

 many flowers were slightly fragrant, and a very few power- 

 fully so. Professor Gouan mentions a parallel difference of 

 smell in the flowers of Grandifiorus ; but that it rather resem- 

 bled that of Lilac, and was often diffused after the flowers 

 had been long blown : « Nectarium stepe odoris expers, 

 saepius (et sub anthesis finem) odorem spirat suavissimum, 

 Syringae magis quam Narcisso affinem/' are his words. In 

 our Festalis, the fragrance is strongest when the crown is just 

 beginning 'to open, and latterly somewhat of the Daffodil 

 smell, mixed with the other, is perceptible. Probably with a 

 little attention, such individuals may be found in both varie- 

 ties all over the kingdom : the pleasant smell is no doubt 

 diffused by the anthers, but the unpleasant one by the co- 

 rolla : for those roots with sweet-smelling flowers, which I 

 transplanted into my garden, always ripened seeds. 



Ajax Patulus. MSS. Narcissus candidissimus. Desf. in 

 PL Lil. v. 4. n. 188. cum Ic. Narcissus moschatus I Ker inBot. 

 Mag.n. 1300. cum Ic. bond. Narcissus albus. Haworth in Linn. 

 Trans, v. 5. p. 243. Narcissus moschatus. Linn. Sp. PL ed. % 

 p. 415. auctoritate ejus speciminis. Pseudo-narcissus flore albo 

 minor. Park. Par. p. 1600. Narcissus sylvestris totus albus 



