NARCISSUS BIFLORUS 



By Georgia Torrey Drennan. 



'TT'WO peculiarities distinguish Narcissus hiflonis from all 

 other members of the Narcissus family. First, it blooms 

 in June ; never in the spring. All spring-flowering bulbs have 

 bloomed and passed away before N. hiflonis sends up its 

 flower-stalks. The second peculiarity is that its flowers appear 

 in pairs; never one, never three or more, but just twO', invari- 

 ably two blooms. They bud and expand simultaneously. 

 Though not so^ pronounced, it has another characteristic of its 

 own, in the odor which is distinctly balsamic. It suggests 

 bruised balsam leaves or crushed resinous pine needles with an 

 essence of spice intermingled. 



The flowers are cup-and-saucer form. The cup is deep 

 chrome yellow, the saucer or perianth flake white. The flower 

 stems are straight, clean and about six inches tall. I have 

 known A^. hiflonis since my earliest days, but not by the name 

 here given. It was one of the components of all gardens of 

 the old South, and is yet one of the commonest of bulbous 

 flowers, known as the "J^'^^'^^ Narcissus." For some unaccount- 

 able reason, it either never had a place in catalogues of popular 

 bulbs, or has been discarded for such a length of time that in no 

 catalogues, either of past date or current, can I find it. I 

 wanted to order the bulbs for my city garden, but could not find 

 a dealer that understood my order. They all substituted N. 

 poeticus and other well known kinds. I finally sent to the old 

 plantation and had them dug up from where they had grown 



