332 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



western Spain. The characters of the flower as well as of the 

 leaf— the long funnel-shaped tube— and especially the biserial 

 attachment of the filaments, do not belong to N. pseudo-narcissus. 

 No seed has ever been found on it, either wild or in cultivation. 



The most important* hybrid of the trumpet Daffodil, as the 

 exhibition at this Conference testifies, is that with N. poeticus. 

 N. incomparabilis, which has always been accepted as a species, 

 is thought by many to owe its origin in some remote time to 

 this cross ; we can neither affirm nor deny that it is so — it may 

 be an independent development of the genus Narcissus. Anyhow 

 it is a plant of great vigour of constitution, and can be closely 

 imitated by crossing the two species mentioned. Its native 

 home is probably amongst the Italian lakes, though it is estab- 

 lished apparently wild in France, and perhaps in Northern Spain 

 and Portugal. But there is no doubt that wherever N. pseudo- 

 narcissus and N. poeticus flower in the same spot simultaneously 

 hybrids are produced similar in form to incomparabilis, but in 

 great variety. These seem to be of good constitution, and include 

 nearly all the forms, though of smaller size, which have been 

 raised in cultivation from the same cross. They produce fertile 

 seed in abundance, which comes up readily ; why they have not 

 established themselves more widely and travelled from their 

 birthplace I cannot explain. 



One more wild trumpet Daffodil should be mentioned, though 

 I have no reason to think it a hybrid — I mean N. cyclamineus 

 of Northern Portugal. Its history is too well known to repeat. 

 It bears seed in abundance ; some of the seedlings sown in 188(3 

 flowered this spring. It prefers peat to loam, comes into flower 

 very early, and is not of robust constitution in cultivation. The 

 remarkably short tube, less than one -tenth the length of the 

 crown, the reflexed perianth, and the large flat disc of the triple 

 stigma seem to mark it as a distinct species. 



It is not intended in these notes to enter into the details of 

 the hybrids and developments of N. pseudo-narcissus which have 

 had their origin in cultivation. The power of the trumpet 

 Daffodil to produce a series of endless variety by crossing with 

 N. poeticus was first shown in nature by wild hybrids, as 

 already mentioned ; and abundant use has been made of this 

 power to raise a beautiful series of varieties, as exhibited to-day. 

 But there are many other hybrids, old and recent, which bridge 



