576 
NARCISSUS. 
This favourite genus has engaged the particular atten¬ 
tion of feveral Britifh botanifts, efpecially Mr. Salilbury, 
Mr. Haworth, and the late Mr. Curtis; as well as of Mr. 
Ker-Bellenden, who, in his contributions to the conti¬ 
nuation of the Botanical Magazine, has attended to this 
among other liliaceous genera, or their allies. The num¬ 
ber of l'pecies is fourteen in the 14th edition of the Syft. 
Veg. of Linnaeus. We have now fixteen, befides feveral 
varieties, l'ome of which have perhaps a right to be con- 
iidered as diftintil fpecies. Three fpecies are found wild 
in England. 
1. Narcifl'us poeticus, poetic or white narcifl'us: fpatlre 
one-flowered ; nedtary wheel-thaped, very ihort, fcariofe, 
crenulate. The flalk, or fcape, does not rife higher than 
the leaves, which are of a grey colour. At the top of the 
ftaik comes out one flower from the fpathe, nodding on 
one fide: corolla fnow-white, fpreading open flat, the pe¬ 
tals rounded at the points: the nedtary or cup in the 
centre is very fhort, and fringed on the border with a 
bright purple circle. See Botany, Plate VIII. fig. 20. 
vol. iii. The flowers have an agreeable odour, appear in 
May, and feldom produce feeds. The leaves are rounded 
on the keel, and reflected at the edge. Villars remarks, 
that in moillmountain-paftures the roots come in bundles, 
producing a confiderable packet of narrow eredt leaves of 
an afh-green colour. The fcape bears one flower, fel¬ 
dom two, hanging down, fpreading, compoled of fix 
lanceolate petals feparate from each other, and having 
a little red (crimfon) circle in the middle, waved or 
fringed. 
Curtis makes two varieties of this: the common one 
defcribed above, which he calls cmguflifolius , flowering in 
April; and the majalis, flowering fix weeks later. The 
double white narciilus is alfo a variety. 
It is a native of Italy, the fouth of France, Swiflerland, 
and Carniola. Said alfo to be found wild in England on 
fandy heaths, as at Shorne between Gravefend and Ro- 
chefter: at Wood Baftwick and other places in Norfolk. 
It was cultivated herein 1570, as appears front Lobel. 
From the defcriptions of Theophraftus, Diofcorides, and 
Pliny, there is little doubt of this fpecies being the nar- 
cifius of thofe authors and of the poets. The next fpe¬ 
cies, if it be really diftindt, was probably not confidered 
as a feparate fpecies by the ancients, fince Ovid defcribes 
his narciilus to have a yellow cup; whereas Diofcorides 
makes it purple, and Pliny fometimes one, fometinres the 
other. 
2. Narcifl'us biflorus, two-flowered narcifl'us, or pale 
daffodil: fpathe two-fiowered ; nedtary wheel-fliaped, very 
fhort, fcariofe, crenulate; leaves acute on the keel, the 
edges turned inwards. “ The pale daffodil, or primrofe 
peerlefs,” as it is called by our old authors, ufually pro¬ 
duces two flowers ; it frequently occurs however with one; 
more rarely with three ; in a high fiate of culture it pro¬ 
bably may be found with more. When it has only one 
flower it may eafily be miftaken for one of the varieties of 
the preceding, udiich Mr. Curtis calls majalis; but it may 
be thus diitinguiihed front it: The petals are of a yel- 
lowifh hue, or rather a pale cream-colour; the nedtary is 
wholly yellow, not having the orange orcrimfon rim ; and 
it flow’ers at leaf!: three weeks earlier; the top alfo of the 
flowering-ftem in this, very foon after it emerges from the 
ground, bends down and becomes elbowed; whereas in 
the majalis it continues upright till within a Ihort time of 
the flowers expanding. Native of feveral parts of Europe. 
Gerarde fays that it grows wild in fields and by the fides of 
woods in the weft of England. Clufius alfo reports that 
he had been credibly informed of its being a native of 
England. Ray had fometimes obferved it wild, but fuf- 
pected that it might have originally come out of gardens. 
James Sherard, M. D. found it near Hornfey-church ; Mr. 
Blackltone in feveral places near Harefield ; Mr. Vernon 
at Bellow-hill near Whitchurch, Chefltire; Ml - . Wood 
near Halifax. It flou'ers towards the end of April. 
13. Mr. Curtis has figured a narcifl'us under the name of 
M. tcnnior, which feems to be fcarcely a diftindt fpecies, 
though it has only one flower on the fcape. The root is 
the fize of a fmall nutmeg, of a pale-brown colour. 
Leaves about a fpan long, very narrow, at their bafe 
fcarcely a quarter of an inch wide, tapering gradually to 
a point, which is fomewhat obtufe; the outer fide is con¬ 
vex, and fomewhat fluted ; the inner concave, not glau¬ 
cous. Stalk fomewhat longer than the leaves, round, 
llightly flattened, efpecially on its upper part, fupporting 
on its fummit one flower, of a fragrance lei's powerful than 
that of the jonquil, and more lo than that of odorus. 
Spathe membranous, length of the peduncle, which is 
about an inch long. Flower, when fully blown, Handing 
horizontally : tube greenilh, nearly cylindrical, fomewhat 
longer than the peduncle: border flat, divided into fix feg- 
ments, of a pale-yellow or fulphur colour, ovate, three 
alternate fegments larger, each terminating in a Ihort 
dagger-point. Nedtary yellow, in form like that of N. 
biflorus, plaited, the margin, as the flow'er advances, be¬ 
coming brown. Anthers of the three longer ftamena 
vilible in the mouth of it. Mr. Curtis firlt obferved this 
narcifl'us in the monthof May 1794,in a Angle, but moftly 
in a double, ftate, in the garden of Mr. James Maddock, a 
florilt at Walworth, who obtained it from Holland. It 
appears to have been long cultivated by the Dutch, and 
from its hardinefs is probably of European origin. It is 
inferior in fize and beauty to many others; but as a fpe¬ 
cies Mr. Curtis thinks it very diftindt. 
Mr. Miller alfo has a variety, which he names N. albus ; 
the petals, he fays, are whiter and reflexed; the border of 
the cup is gold-coloured. 
3. Narcifl'us pfeudo-narciiTus, or common daffodil 1 
fpathe one-flowered; nedtary bell-fhaped, eredt, curled, 
equalling the ovate petals; fee Botany, Plate VIII. 
fig. 22. Common Englifh daffodil has a large bulbous 
root, from which come out five or fix flat leaves, about a 
foot long, and an inch broad, of a greyifh colour, and a 
little hollow in the middle like the keel of a boat. The 
flalk riles a foot and half high, having two fharp longitu¬ 
dinal angles; at the top comes out one nodding flower, 
inclofed in a thin fpathe. The corolla is of one petal, 
being connedted at the bafe, but cut almoft to the bottom 
into fix fpreading'parts; in the middle is a bell-fhaped 
nedtary, called by gardeners the cup, which is equal in 
length to the petal, and ftands eredt. The petal is of a 
pale brimftone or ftraw colour, and the nedtary is of a full 
yellow. Seeds roundifh, black. Native of many parts of 
Europe; Spain, Italy, Germany, Swiflerland, France, Eng¬ 
land, in paftures, woods, and hedges; flowering in March. 
Near Charlton, Woolwich,and Erith,in Kent; in Norfolk; 
Whitwell near Coton, and Whittlesford, in Cambridge- 
fhire; Noke woods, in Oxfordfliire; about Halifax very 
abundantly; in Lancafhire; Hanley Caflle in Worcefler- 
fliire; Madely in Shropfhire; about Sutton Cofield, and 
beyond Erdington, on the road from Birmingham to Sut¬ 
ton, it covers almoft a whole field. 
13 . Double daffodil, a. Pfeudonarcifl'us anglicus flore 
pleno, or Gerarde's double daffodil; he having firlt dil- 
covered it in a poor woman’s garden in the weft of Eng¬ 
land : it is faid to be natural in the Ifle of Wight. This 
circumftance is not mentioned in Gerarde’s Herbal. He 
there fays that he received thedouble yellow daffodil from 
Robinus of Paris. 
b. Pfeudonarcifl'us aureus maximus flore pleno, or 
Tradefcant’s great rofe-daffodil. This prince of daffodils, 
fays Parkinfon, belongeth primarily to John Tradefcant, 
as the firlt founder thereof, and may well be entituled 
“ the glory of daffodils.” The flower is very much fpread 
open, confifting of fmaller and fliorter leaves than the 
next, but more in number, thicker and rounder let toge¬ 
ther, making it feemas great-and double as any Provence- 
rofe, and intermixt with divers yellow and pale leaves, as 
if it were in rows one under another. It abideth long in 
flower, and fpreadeth to be the broadeft in compafs of any 
of the daffodils. 
e. Pfoudonarcifl'u* 
