PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
75 
able to describe twenty-four different species, and had “them 
all and every of them in our London gardens in great abund¬ 
ance.” The family, as at present arranged by the “ Index 
Kewensis,” consists of forty-five species, with several sub¬ 
species and varieties; all of which should be grown. They 
are all, with the exception of the Algerian species, which almost 
defy cultivation in England, most easy of cultivation—“ Magna 
cura non indigent Narcissi.” They only require after the first 
planting to be let alone, and then they will give us their graceful 
flowers in varied beauty from February to May. Among the 
earliest will be the grand N. maximum , which may be called the 
King of Daffodils, though some authors have given to it a still 
more illustrious name. The “ Rose of Sharon ” was the large 
yellow Narcissus, common in Palestine and the East generally, 
of which Mahomet said: “ He that has two cakes of bread, let 
him sell one of them for some flower of the Narcissus, for bread 
is the food of the body, but Narcissus is the food of the soul.” 
From these grand leaders of the tribe we shall be led through 
the Hoop-petticoats, the many-flowered Tazettas, and the sweet 
Jonquils, till we end the Narcissus season with the Poets’ Nar¬ 
cissus (Ben Jonson’s “chequ’d and purple-ringed Daffodilly”), 
certainly one of the most graceful flowers that grows, and of a 
peculiar fragrance that no other flower has; so beautiful is it, 
that even Dr. Forbes Watson’s description of it is scarcely too 
glowing: “ In its general expression the Poets’ Narcissus seems 
a type of maiden purity and beauty, yet warmed by a love-* 
breathing fragrance; and yet what innocence in the large soft 
eye, which few can rival amongst the whole tribe of flowers. 
The narrow, yet vivid fringe of red, so clearly seen amidst the 
whiteness, suggests again the idea of purity, gushing passion—• 
purity with a heart which can kindle into fire.” 
