THE NARCISSUS. 



85 



of the forms of N. variiformis and N. muticus are really good 

 enough to go into the N. bicolor group, and it is more than possible 

 that our garden "bicolor" was originally selected from one or 

 other of these wild stocks. We always thought we could tell at 

 a glance N. princeps from N. spurius or N. major, but the beau- 

 tiful Castlewellan Daffodil, now to be known as " Countess of 

 Annesley," is a connecting link between them. Even N. obval- 

 laris — the so-called Tenby Daffodil — is resolving itself into a 

 section, the " Saragossa " Daffodil, "Vicar of Lulworth," " lone," 

 and one or two others, and seedlings, at present less well known, 

 agreeing with it in most particulars. 



Seedlings. 



I should like to say a few words on seedling Narcissi. Theo- 

 phrastus of Eresus (b.c. 374-286) says of the Narkissos that 

 " its leaves spread on the ground like the Asphodel, but are 

 broader like those of Lilies ; its stalk is leafless, and bears at the 

 top an herbaceous flower, and dark-coloured fruit enclosed in a 

 vessel of an oblong figure ; this fruit falling down sprouts spon- 

 taneously, though some gather it for solving." 



Nearly all the authors on gardening recommend the sowing 

 of Daffodil seeds. John Evelyn, in his " Kalendarium Hortense " 

 (p. 68), published about 1666, tells his readers to gather the ripe 

 seeds of Narcissus, and he especially mentions that the two 

 lesser pale spurius Daffodils of a whitish-green colour ' ' often 

 produce varieties." Nowadays if any one rears seedling Nar- 

 cissi we are sure to hear about them, but in the days before 

 these flowers became popular many seedlings, no doubt, appeared 

 in old gardens in both England and Ireland. The Irish climate 

 is pre-eminently suitable to the growth of these flowers, and the 

 white Daffodils introduced long ago, no doubt from the Pyrenees, 

 and the forms of N. spurius and N. princeps, have long been 

 naturalised there, and have seeded and still seed themselves 

 spontaneously. As a rule we find some varieties produce seeds 

 far more readily than others. Of the kinds long cultivated, N. 

 minimus, N. minor, N. nanus, N. obvallaris, and N. Telamonius, 

 single and semi-double, often produce seeds. Nearly all the wild 

 varieties seed freely after being imported to our gardens, but the 

 only sure way of securing a crop of good seeds is by cross-fertili- 

 sation, growing the seed-bearing plants in pots in a cold frame 

 or greenhouse. 



